MARTIN, G.J et al. Mulberry (Morus alba, Linn.): a species of interest for livestock production. []. , 30, 5, pp. 1-1. ISSN 0864-0394.

Mulberry is a multipurpose plant which originated in China. For more than 5 000 years it has been the only feedstuff for the silkworm, due to its excellent nutritional qualities, especially its high content of protein and energy. In addition, it is used in several regions of the world for livestock feeding. For such reasons, in 1996 the researchers of the Experimental Station of Pastures and Forages "Indio Hatuey", taking into consideration the need to search for new sources of forages for animal feeding, re-considered the possibility of introducing to the country four mulberry varieties from Costa Rica, based on relationships established with the Tropical Agronomic Center of Research and Training (CATIE) from that country, with the objective of evaluating their performance under different edaphoclimatic conditions and carrying out trials with different animal species. In order to achieve these objectives a multidisciplinary group was created involving specialists from several institutions and studies were performed which have allowed to characterize the bromatological and phytochemical composition of the varieties introduced, learn the effect of the factors of agronomic management for determining the production potential of total and edible biomass, as well as the intake, digestibility and animal response. Thus, this plant was demonstrated to have great adaptive capacity to different edaphoclimatic conditions all over the country; it can produce between 10 and 12 t DM/ha/year (edible biomass), has a DM digestibility higher than 80%, and the values of live weight gain and milk production are similar to the ones obtained with the use of imported concentrates. Nowadays mulberry has become a species known and used all over the country by entrepreneurs and farmers and has great acceptance, especially for feeding small species in the different livestock subprograms of urban agriculture.

: Agronomy; quality; mulberry; animal production.