The nutritive value of mulberry leaf (Morus alba) and effects of part replacement of cotton seed with fresh mulberry leaf in diets for growing cattle

Vu Chi Cuong, Pham Kim Cuong and Pham Hung Cuong

NIAH, Hanoi, Vietnam
vccuong@netnam.vn

Abstract

Two experiments aimed at evaluating the nutritional value of mulberry leaves in comparison with other grasses and investigating the effects of part replacement of cotton seed with fresh mulberry leaves in rations on performance of growing cattle. In the first experiment, twenty castrated rams of the Bach thao breed (a local prolific breed) with initial weight of 23 - 25 kg, were divided into 4 groups, considering the live weight, and randomly allocated to four treatment: NG: chopped natural grass ad libitum; EG: chopped Pennisetum purpureum ad libitum; GG: chopped Panicum maximum cv.TD 58 ad libitum; MU: chopped mulberry leaves ad libitum. In the second experiment: 20 Laisind (Vietnam Yellow cows x Red Dindhi bulls) young bulls of the medium size at 18 months old, weighing around 184 kg were used. The experiment was a randomized complete block design of four dietary treatments with four levels of fresh mulberry leaves and five animals per treatment.

Among four forages tested, mulberry leaf had a higher nutritive value than the grasses. Increased levels of mulberry leaf in the rations of the cattle resulted in increased growth rate and better feed conversion.

Key words: Mulberry, cattle, digestibility, growth rate, feed conversion

Introduction

Native grasses and crop by-products are the basal diets for ruminants in the tropics, especially in the dry season (Koakhunthod et al 2001). These diets are often low in protein content, digestibility and are imbalanced in essential minerals (Wanapat 1995). Consequently, ruminants fed on these diets do not perform well because their intake is low (Wanapat 1995). There are several alternatives for improving the performance of ruminants fed on low quality basal diets. One of these alternatives is to exploite and use trees and shrubs, which are moderate to high in digestibility and protein content (Egan 1997; Shayo 1998). It has been also recognized that utilisation of trees and shrubs as non-conventional feeds for ruminants is one of the most effective means for improvement of forage supply in small holder livestock production systems (Blair 1989).

Recently, in many tropical countries and regions, the trend to indentify and use locally available feed recoures amongs shrub and trees leaves as feeds for ruminants has been increasing (Shayo, 1998). While mulberry trees, which belong to the Urticales order, Moraceae family and Morus genus, have been used traditionaly as a major feed for silworms in Vietnam and over the world (Tingzing et al., 1988) for centruries, utilisation of this tree as ruminant feed has not been practiced in Vietnam. Because of the silk price fluctuation in the market, silkworm production is not alway sustainable and profitable. To help farmers to increase their income through using mulberry leaves surplus, this study was undertaken. The objectives of the present study were: (1) to evaluate the nutritional value of mulberry leaves in comparision with other grasses collected at experimental farms (Experiment 1); and (2) to evaluate the effects of partly replacement of cotton seed with fresh mulberry leaves in rations on performance of growing cattle (Experiment 2).

Materials and methods

Experiment 1.

Animals and experimental design

The experiment was conducted at the experimental station of the National Institute of Animal Husbandry, Thuyphuong, Tuliem, Hanoi, Vietnam. The experiment was a randomized complete block design experiment. Twenty castrated rams of the Bachthao breed (a local prolific breed) with the initial weight of 23 - 25 kg, were divided into 4 equal groups, considering the live weight, and randomly allocated to the following treatments:

NG: Chopped natural grass ad libitum
EG: Chopped chopped Pennisetum purpureum ad libitum;
GG: Chopped : chopped Panicum maximum cv.TD 58 ad libitum
MU: Chopped mulberry leaves ad libitum

All sheep were kept in metabolism cages and fed individually at 9 am and 16 pm. The level of feeding was calculated to be 120 % of maintenance requirement. The digestibility of the grass and mulbery leaf was calculated from the amount of feeds offered and feeds refused. Digestibility was measured over 10 days following a 20-day acclimatisation period. All feed offered to the sheep for the 10-day faecal collection period was weighed and sampled daily. Feed refusals were also weighed, sampled daily and the dry matter (DM) of the refusals was determined. Faeces of sheep were collected, weighed and sampled daily. Samples of feeds, refusals and faeces were dried at 55^oC to a constant weight for DM content determination. Feeds and faeces samples were ground (1-mm screen) and analysed for ash (muffle furnace at 550^oC for 4 h), crude protein (CP) (AOAC1980; Kieldahl N x 6.25), ether extract (AOAC 1980; Soxhlet procedure), NDF, ADF (Van Soest et al 1991). Energy values of mulberry leaf and grasses were calculated from in vivo digestibility data using equation developed by Jarrige (1978) and Xande et al (1989).

Experiment 2.

Experimental animals and design.

The feeding trial was undertaken for 90 days at Tamxa village, Donganh district, Hanoi, in the Red River delta of Vietnam. In this experiment, 20 Laisind (Vietnam Yellow cows x Red Sindhi bulls) young bulls 18 months old, weighing around 184 kg were used. The experiment was a randomized complete block design with four dietary treatments and five animals per treatment. At the beginning of the experiment, the young bulls were blocked according to their live weight into 4 blocks, each of five animals. Within a block, the animals were each randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments. Cattle were treated with Fasinex (Ciba Co., Switzerland) for the control of internal parasites and were fed the experimental diets for a preliminary period of 15 days before starting the experiment. Animals were fed individually twice a day at 8 am. and 16 pm.

Feed preparation and dietary treatments

For treatment MU0, cassava root meal, whole cotton seed meal, soybean meal and mineral premix were mixed thoroughly then mixed with chopped rice straw. Finally, this was mixed again with urea diluted molasses. The final mix was then delivered to each animal. In the treatments MU5, MU10 and MU15, the cassava root meal, ground whole cotton seed, soybean meal and mineral premix were mixed thoroughly then mixed with the chopped fresh mulberry leaves, and the chopped rice straw. Finally, this was mixed again with urea diluted molasses. The final mix was then delivered to each animal.

The four dietary treatments and the chemical composition of the feeds used are shown in Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1: The four dietary treatments used in the experiment 2 (% DM basis)
	MU0	MU5	MU0	MU15
Cassava root meal	10	10	10	10
Molasses	40	40	40	40
Whole cotton seed	23	18	13	8
Soybean meal	5	5	5	5
Mulberry leaves	-	5	10	15
Chopped rice straw	20	20	20	20
Urea	1	1	1	1
Mineral premix	1	1	1	1

Table 2: Chemical composition of feeds used in experiment 2
	DM, %	Crude protein	Crude fibre	NDF	ADF	Ash
	DM, %	As % of DM
Cassava root meal	85.4	4.34	3.49	19.4	4.05	2.96
Molasses	76.7	1.80	-	-	-	6.20
Whole cotton seed	89.4	21.0	29.8	55.0	34.1	4.32
Soybean meal	91.1	36.7	7.80	14.2	10.8	5.60
Mulberry leaves	19.9	20.3	15.9	31.1	18.3	13.7
Chopped rice straw	85.1	5.08	39.4	73.2	42.6	15.1

Measurements and statistical analysis

Feeds offered and refused were recorded daily for each animal. Live weights were taken at 15 day intervals throughout the experiment, immediately prior to feeding at 0800 hours The data collected were subjected to analyses of variance (ANOVA) procedure for a randomized complete block design using the general linear model (GLM) of the SAS system for Windows (SAS 6.12, SAS institute). Probabilities less than 0.05 were considered significant. Treatment means were compared using Duncan's New Multiple Range Test (Steel and Torri 1980). The mathematical model was:

Y_ij = m + tx_i + bl_J + e_ij

Where m is the overall mean, tx_i is the ith treatment effect, bl_J is the jth block effect and e_ij is the experimental error of treatment i in block b.

Results

Experiment 1

Chemical composition and digestibility of mulberry leaves

CP content of mulberry was higher and fibre lower than in the grasses (Table 3).

Table 3. The chemical composition of mulberry leaf and grasses
	Chemical composition (as % dry matter)
	DM	OM	CP	CF	NDF	ADF	Ash
Natural grass	22.6^a	84.0^a	11.6^a	27.4^a	67.1^a	31.6^a	16.0^a
Pennisetum purpureum	13.3^b	85.5^b	10.3^b	34.0^b	63.1^b	36.2^b	14.5^b
Panicum maximum cv.TD 58	21.01^c	89.19^c	11.49^a	35.81^c	67.83^a	38.82^c	10.81^c
Mulberry leaf	19.8^c	86.35^b	22.33^c	15.85^d	31.09^d	18.32^d	13.65^d
C40 concentrate*	91.25	91.87	16.80	4.92	19.40	6.30	8.13
Whole cotton seed*	89.35	95.68	20.95	29.78	54.98	34.10	4.32
DM: dry matter;OM: organic matter; CP: Crude protein, CF: crude fiber; * Unpublished data (Vu Chi Cuong et al 2003). Values bearing different superscripts a, b, c, d in columns differ significantly P< 0.05

In other reports the CP content of mulberry leaf varied from 22.2 to 24.3 %: and 20.9 to 21.1% (Liu et al 1998), 15 to 27.6% (Singh and Makkar 2003), 17.9 (Ly Thi Luyen et al (2003), 21.7 to 23.6% (Schmidek et al 2000), 20.8 % (Malamsha et al 1999), 22.1 (Deshmukh et al 1993), 18.6 % (Shayo 1996) and 21.6 % (Phiny et al 2003).

DM and OM digestibility coefficients in mulberry leaf (66.4and 71.8 %) were higher than those in the grasses and slightly lower than those in whole cotton seed and the concentrate. According to Singh and Markar (2000), digestibility coefficients of OM in leucaena and mulberry leaves were: 59.1 and 64 %, respectively. The mulberry leaves in our study with OMD of 71.8 %, were comparable to some leguminous hays such as alfalfa and vetch (FAO 1998).

Because mulberry leaves were highly digestible, ME value and therefore NE value of mulberry in present study were high. ME value of mulberry leaves was similar to that of whole cotton seed (Table 4) suggesting a suitability of these leaves for use as supplements to feeds of low quality and also for replacement of costly feeds in the rations of ruminants.

Experiment 2

Replacing cottonseeds with fresh mulberry leaves did not affect the growth rate of the cattle (Table 5).

Table 5: Mean values and SE for effect of mulberry leaf as replacement for whole cottonseed on live weight gain of Laisind cattle
	Mulberry leaf, %
	0	5	10	15
Initial weight (kg)	183 ± 8.7	184 ± 9.2	183 ± 8.5	183 ± 10.1
Final live weight (kg)	230 ± 11.7	233 ± 9.3	231. ± 13.1	231 ± 11.4
Average weight gain (g/day)	554	583	565	568

In the humid tropics, Jersey x Criollo heifer grazing star grass (Cynodon nlemfuencis) were supplemented with concentrate, mulbery leaves and concentrate or only mulberry leaves. There were no differences in growth rate among the supplements Oviedo (1995, cited by Bernavides et al (2000). Gonzalez et al (1996 cited by Bernavides et al (2000)) found that young Romosinuano bulls in total confinements and fed a basal diets of elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) had growth rates of 40, 690, 940 and 950g/day when mulberry foliage DM intakes were 0, 0.90, 1.71 and 2.11 percent of live weight.

Table 5: Mean values and SE for effect of mulberry leaf as replacement for whole cottonseed on live weight gain of Laisind cattle
	Mulberry leaf, %
	0	5	10	15
Initial weight (kg)	183 ± 8.7	184 ± 9.2	183 ± 8.5	183 ± 10.1
Final live weight (kg)	230 ± 11.7	233 ± 9.3	231 ± 13.1	231 ± 11.4
Live weight gain (g/day)	554	583	565	568
DM intake (kg/day)	5.19 ± 0.29	4.64 ± 0.42	4.73 ± 0.14	4.68 ± 0.38
DOM intake (% body weight)	2.56 ± 0.15	2.42 ± 0.10	2.35 ± 0.07	2.41 ± 0.12
FCR (kg DM/kg gain)	7.15^a ± 0.29	6.44^b ± 0.44	6.88^b ± 0.75	6.45^b ± 0.50
Values bearing different superscripts a, b, in rows differ at P< 0.05.

DM feed conversion rates were better for diets containing mulberry leaves (Table 4).

According to Singh and Markar (2000), the high digestibility, low cell wall fraction, high content of ash, vitamins, nitrogen, sulphur and minerals, of mulberry leaves, could increase efficiency of utilization of crop residues by increasing the efficiency of microbial proten synthesis in the rumen leading to higher microbial supply to the intestine Leng (1997) suggested that the production rate of cattle on high intakes of tree foliage such as mulberry may be as good as those of cattle on ammonia treated straw and supplemented with 1 to 1.5 kg/day of cotton seed meal.

Conclusions

Mulberry leaves are one of the best feeds for ruminants.
The levels of crude protein and the DM digestibility are superior to those of most commonly used tropical grasses and are comparable to concentrates.
When used as a supplement, it can replace cotton seed without any negative effect on growth rate and can improve feed utilisation by growing cattle.

References

AOAC 1980 Official Methods of Analysis, 13^th edn., Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Washington, DC.

Benavides J, Hernandez I, Esquivel J, Vasconcelos J, Gonzalez J and Espinoza E 2000 Supplementation of grazing dairy cattle with mulberry in Costa Rica. In: Proceedings of an electronic conference carried out between May and August, 2002. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper, 147 http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/?FAOINFO/AGRICULT/AGAP/FRG/M.../Benavide2.tx

Blair G J 1989 The diversity of potential value of shrubs and tree fodders. In: Devendra, C. (ed.) Shrubs and Tree Fodders for Farm Animals. Proceedings of a workshop in Denpasar, Indonesia, 24-29 July, 1989, pp:2-9.

Deshmukh S V, Pathak N N, Takalikar D A and Digraskar S U 1993 Nutritional effect of mulberry (Morus alba) leaves as a sole ration of adult rabbit . World Rabbit Science1, 67-68,

Egan A R 1997 Technological Constraints and Opportunities in Relation to Class of Livestock and Production Objectives. In: (Editor: C. Renard) Crop Residues in Sustainable Mixed Crop/Livestock Farming Systems. CAB international, 1997. Pp: 7-24.

FAO 1998 Animal Feed Resources Information System from the original book named Tropical Feeds by Bo Göhl - database by Andrew Speedy and Nick Waltham. 8th Edition. FAO, Rome.

Jarige 1978 Alimentation des ruminants. Ed, INRA, Versilles, p:597.

Koakhunthod S, Wanapat M, Wachirapakorn N, Nontaso N, Rowlinson P and Sorsungnern. 2001 Effect of cassava hay and high-quality feed block supplementation on milk production in lactating dairy cows. In: International Workshop on Current Research and Development on Use of Cassava as Animal feed. Konkaen University, Khon kaen, Thailand. Pp:21-25.

Leng R A 1997 Tree foliage in ruminant nutrition. Animal Production and Health Paper 139. FAO, Rome

Liu J X, Ye J A and Ye H W 1997 The effects of supplementary Chinese milk vetch silage on growth rate of cattle and their intake of ammoniated rice straw. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol., 65:79-86.

Ly Thi Luyen, Nguyen Thi Mui, Nguyen Phuc Tien, Dinh Van Binh and T R Preston 2003 Growing mulberry and Trichanthera gigantea in association with Flemingia macrophylla on sloping land and using the foliages as feeds for rabbits. In: In: (Eds: Peston, T. R., Ogle, B. R.) Proceedings of National Workshop-seminar on Sustainable Livestock Production on Local Feed Resources, March 25 t0 27, 2003, Hue, Vietnam. Agricultural Publishing House. Pp:35-40.

Malamsha, P. C., Muhicambele, V. R. M, and Mtenga, L.A (1999). White mulberry (morus alba) as a potential feed supplement for stall-fed growing goats in highland areas of Tanzania.http://www.husdyr.kvl/htm/php/Tsap99/17-malamsaha.htm

Phiny C, Preston T R and Ly J 2003. Mulberry (Morus alba) leaves as protein source for young pigs fed rice-based diets: Digestibility studies. Livestock Research for Rural Development. (http://www.cipav.org/lrrd/lrrd15/chiv.htm)

SAS 1998, User's Guide: statistics, Version 6.12th Edition, SAS intituteInc., Cary, NC.

Schmidek A, Takahashi R, Nunes de Medeiros A and de Resende K T 2000 Bromatological composition and degradation rate of mulberry in goats. In: Proceedings of an electronic conference caried out between May and August, 2002. FAO animal production and health paper, 147 http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/?FAOINFO/AGRICULT/AGAP/FRG/M...

Shayo C M 1998 The potential of Mulberry as feed for ruminants in central Tanzania. In FAO Electronic Conference on Mulberry for Animal Production. http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOtIFO/AGRICULT/AGA/AGAP/FRG/MU../paper.ht

Shayo C M 1997 Uses, yield and nutritive lalue of mulberry (Morus alba) trees for ruminants in the semi-arid areas of central Tanzania. Tropical grassland, 31, 599-601.

Singh B and H P S Makkar 2000 The potential of Mulberry Foliage as feeds supplement in India. In: Proceedings of an electronic conference caried out between May and August, 2002. FAO animal production and health paper, 147
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/?FAOINFO/AGRICULT/AGAP/FRG/M...

Steel R G D and Torrie J H 1980 Principles and Procedures of Statistics: A Biometrical Approach. Mc Graw-Hill, New York

Tingzing Z, Yunfan T, Guangxien H, Huaizhong F and Ben M. 1988. Mulberry cultivation. FAO Agricultural Series Bulletin 73/1. Rome pp:127.

Van Soest P J, Robertson J B and Lewis B A 1991 Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber and non-starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science 74:3583-3593

Vu Chi Cuong, Anton Baynen and Pham Hung Cuong 2003 Chemical composition, digestibility and nutritive values of some feeds commonly used for cattle in northern part of Vietnam. (unpublished data)

Wanapat M 1995Nutrional strategies based on crop residues to increase swamp buffalo production and draft efficiency on farms. In: Proceedings of International Workshop on Draft Animal power to Increase Farming Efficiency and Sustainability (Editor: M. Wanapat), Funny Press Publishing. Ltd, Khon kaen, Thailand.

Xande A R, Garcia Trujillo and O Caceres 1989 Methode d'expression de la valeur alimentaire des fourrages tropicaux in Paturages et alimentation des ruminants en zone tropical humid. INRA, Paris.

Go to top