The forage potential for some mulberry clones in Brazil

José Eduardo de Almeida
Estação Experimental de Zootecnia
Gália, São Paulo
Brazil
and
Tamara Canto Fonseca
Instituto de Zootecnia
Nova Odessa, São Paulo
Brazil

INTRODUCTION

It should be clarified that mulberry is not yet cultivated as forage in Brazil. However, animal scientists have increasingly focused on the potential of mulberry for animal feeding, especially in the Department of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences at Jaboticabal, São Paulo state (altitude of 614 m, latitude -21°14'4,9'' and longitude -48°17'9,3''). The climate in this region is humid subtropical, with dry winters and rainy summers, and an average annual temperature of 20°C. Annual rainfall is 1 400 mm. The soil is classified as dark red latosol, with average texture, and classified by the seventh American approximation as typic haphorthox.

Determinations of growth curve, dry material production, crude protein (CP) content, ratio leaf:stem, have been carried out for some clones (Brazão, et al. 1992; Takahashi et al., 1992; Resende et al., 1992; Guideli et al., 1993). Scrutinizing 5 clones (Korin, Calabresa, FM 86, FM SM and Miura) in four different cutting frequencies (45, 60, 75 and 90 days), Brazão (1992) found that the best clone was FM SM at 60 days, with a higher percentage of CP. Other authors, studying the seasonal effect along the year (winter, autumn and summer), observed that the FM SM clone was also the best, with higher yield related to total DM, stem and leef DM, but presented lower ratio leaf/stem (Takahashi et al., 1992; Resende et al., 1992; Guideli et al., 1993).

Also the bromatological composition has been determined for different ages and parts of the plant by Sugohara et al. (1994a,b) and by Resende et al. (1994a,b).

Another characteristic of mulberry that has caught attention from researchers and specialists is the dry material digestibility. Experiences were conducted in vitro, by Resende et al.(1994c); Takahashi et al.(1994) and Sugohara et al.(1994c) (reporting on Hara, 1993) and Baffi, 1992, and in situ, conducted by Vasconcelos et al.(1994) and Schmidek (1999), and in feces and urine, conducted by Basaglia (1993). The main results of the published papers are summarized in the following section.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

TABLE 1

Bromatological composition in leaf and stem of Iamada clones for different cutting frequencies (in days)

	Leaf fraction				Stem fraction
Days	45	60	75	90	45	60	75	90
DM	20.1a	22.0a	26.0a	23.8a	18.2d	22.7c	27.6b	32.6a
Crude protein	25.6a	24.6ab	23.7ab	22.9b	8.8a	7.2b	6.4bc	5.5c
Ether extract	3.8b	6.0a	5.5a	5.2a	2.5b	2.2b	2.1b	2.9a
Ash	5.9a	8.1a	7.9a	9.5a	6.3a	4.4b	3.2bc	2.6c
NDF	34.5a	26.1b	7.7b	37.3a	71.7c	75.5b	77.3b	81.1a
ADF	22.2a	19.4a	22.4a	22.4a	56.0a	55.8a	56.2a	57.6a
Cellulose	5.9a	8.1a	7.9a	9.5a	35.8b	39.9a	38.6ab	41.9a
Lignine	9.0a	6.9a	8.4a	8.9a	16.3a	14.7ab	15.9ab	14.2b

Note: values in rows with the same letter were not different in Tukey Test, at 5 percent level.
Source: Sugohara et al., 1994a.

Bromatological composition in leaf and stem of some mulberry clones (four years of age) in the winter¹, summer² and in the spring³

Parameter (%)	Winter (range)		Spring		Summer
	Leaf	Stem	Leaf	Stem	Leaf	Stem
DM	22-24	25-30	22.2	22.4
Crude Protein	28-30	8-9	30.7	10.3	21.8 (FM SM) 23.7 (Miura)	5.9 (FMSM) 6.7 (Miura)
Ash	10-12	4-5	4.6	2.3
Ether extract	4-5	2-3	10.2	5.0
NDF	27-34	79-82	29.1	80.6	29.7
ADF	16-20	49-55	18.0	51.1	11.6
Lignin	6-7	13-14	5.7	11.8
Cellulose	7-8	36-40	-	-

Source: ¹ Resende et al., 1994a; ² Sugonara et al., 1994; ³ Resende et al., 1994b.

During the winter, there were no marked changes in the leaf and stem fractions with cutting. In the spring, there was a significant decrease in CP and an increase in fibre fraction (P <0.05) with cutting age. In the summer, cell composition changed with cutting age, with an increase in cell wall and a decrease in cell contents. The authors came to the conclusion that mulberry had a high forage potential, suitable for animal feeding, especially for caprines.

TABLE 3

In vitro digestibility (Tilley and Terry, 1963) of some mulberry clones in experiments conducted in two seasons (in days)

Clone	Stem DMr		Leaf DMr		Leaf protein
	April-June	August-October	April-June	August-October	April-June	August-October
Korin	45.3	48.6	66.5	68.3	56.4	66.6
Calabresa	50.0	42.6	64.7	70.0	54.6	66.6
FM 86	49.8	46.8	70.2	71.4	57.2	65.0
FM SM	48.4	49.3	69.6	71.3	56.8	65.9
Miura	50.9	47.6	66.8	69.1	56.7	65.6
Average	48.9	47.0	67.6	70.0	56.3	65.9

Source: Tilley and Terry, 1993; Hara, 1993.

Production of dry matter and crude protein of five mulberry clones in two seasons (in days)

Cutting	Stem DMr		Leaf DMr		Leaf CP		Leaf DCP
Frequency	Apr-Jun	Aug-Oct	Apr-Jun	Aug-Oct	Apr-Jun	Aug-Oct	Apr-Jun	Aug-Oct
45	9.4	1.9	6.3	1.2	2.9	0.6	5.5	1.2
60	8.6	4.4	5.9	3.5	2.6	1.5	5.1	3.5
75	7.0	6.9	4.7	4.9	1.8	2.2	3.7	4.7
90	11.1	10.7	7.5	7.2	3.0	2.8	6.2	6.0

Spacing was 3 m x 0.6 m. The experiment had a completely randomized factorial design 5 x 4 (clones x cutting age).

Source: Hara, 1993.

TABLE 5

In vitro digestibility¹ of Iamada clones (nine years of age), with different cutting frequencies.

Cutting frequency	In vitro digestibility
	Dry matter		Crude protein
	Stem	Leaf	Stem	Leaf
45	52.8	82.7	92.3	88.3
60	47.6	83.4	92.9	90.4
75	45.3	80.0	97.9	87.8
90	39.3	78.9	90.5	86.0

Source: Baffi, 1992; Tilley and Terry, 1993. ¹ Tilley and Terry (1963). Spacing was 3m by 0.6m.

Rumen degradation characteristics of some mulberry clones in caprines

	Vasconcelos et al., 1994		Schmidek, 1991
	DM	CP	DM	CP
Soluble fraction	31.2	21.5	31.4	17.7
Degradable fraction	60.6	74.4	61.8	79.3
Non-degradable fraction	7.9	4.1	6.8	3.2
Potential degradation	92.1	95.9	92.4	90.7

Source: Schmidek, 1999.

TABLE 7

Nutritive value of two six year-old mulberry clones¹ (Basaglia, 1993).

Clone/cutting	Digestibility		Metabolizable protein (%)	Biological value (%)	Nitrogen balance (g)
	DM	CP
FM86	74.8	76.7	76.6	99.9	14.7
FMSM	73.8	78.0	77.9	99.9	14.9
45 days	77.5a	81.1a	81.0a	99.9a	16.6a
90 days	71.1b	73.6b	73.4b	99.8b	12.9b

¹The experiment had a completely randomized factorial design 2 x 2 (mulberry clones x growth ages) with two cutting frequencies. Spacing was 3 x 0.6 m.

Source: Basaglia, 1993.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baffi, M.H. 1992. Utilização da amoreira (Morus alba L.) cultivar Yamada para caprinos: Curva de crescimento e digestibilidade in vitro. Trabalho apresentado a Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, UNESP, Campus de Jaboticabal, para graduação em Zootecnia. FCAV. UNESO, Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil.

Basaglia, R. 1993. Eficiência de utilização da proteína da amoreira (Morus alba) pelos caprinos e digestibilidade in vitro. Trabalho apresentado a Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, UNESP, Campus de Jaboticabal, para graduação em Zootecnia. FCAV. UNESO, Jaboticabal, Sao Paulo, Brazil. 1993

Brazão, C.S., Takahashi, R., Sugohara, A. & Resende, K. T. 1992. Curva de crescimento e composição bromatológica da amoreira (Morus alba L.) IV Congresso de Iniciação Científica da UNESP, Araçatuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil - 27 a 29 de agosto de 1992

Guideli, C., Resende, K. T., Takahashi, R., Sugohara, A. & Reis, R. A. 1993. Produção de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.) em diferentes idades de crescimento, durante o verão. V Congresso de Iniciação Científica da UNESP. Depto de Zootecnia, FCAV, Jaboticabal, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Hara, C. H. 1993. Produção e digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca e proteína de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.) - Trabalho apresentado a Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, UNESP, Campus de Jaboticabal, para graduação em Zootecnia. FCAV - UNESO, Jaboticabal, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Resende, K. T.; Sugohara, A.; Takahashi, R; Reis, R. A. & Brazão, Claudia S. 1992. Produção de matéria seca de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.) no outono, visando sua utilização na alimentação de ruminantes. Anais da XXIX Reunião Anual da SBZ - Lavras, MG, Brazil.

Resende, K. T.; Takahashi, R.; Sugohara, A.; Brazão, Claudia S.; Reis, R. A. & Vasconcelos, V. R. 1994a. Composição bromatológica de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.). 1 - Estação de inverno. Anais da XXXI Reunião Anual da SBZ, Maringá, PR, Brazil.

Resende, K. T.; Takahashi, R.; Sugohara, A.; Brazão, Claudia.; Reis, R. A. & Vasconcelos, V. R. 1994b. Composição bromatológica de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.). 2 - Estação da primavera. Anais da XXXI Reunião Anual da SBZ, Maringá, PR, Brazil.

Resende, K. T.; Takahashi, R.; Sugohara, A.; Reis, R. A., Hara, C. & Vasconcelos, V. R. 1994c. Produção e digestibilidade de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.). 1 - Estação de inverno. Anais da XXXI Reunião Anual da SBZ, Maringá, PR, Brazil.

Schmidek, A. 1999. Composição bromatológica e degradabilidade em caprinos, de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.) Trabalho apresentado a Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, UNESP, Campus de Jaboticabal, para graduação em Zootecnia. FCAV - UNESO, Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil.

Sugohara, A., Resende, K. T., Takahashi, R., Magario, K. e Reis, R. A. 1994a. Composição bromatológica da amoreira (Morus alba L.), cultivar Yamada, em diferentes idades de crescimento. Anais da XXXI Reunião Anual da SBZ, Maringá, PR, Brazil.

Sugohara, A., Resende, K. T., Takahashi, R., Guideli, C., Reis, R. A. & Vasconcelos, Vânia R. 1994b. Composição bromatológica de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.). 3 - Estação de verão. Anais da XXXI Reunião Anual da SBZ, Maringá, PR, Brazil.

Sugohara, A., Resende, K. T., Takahashi, R., Guideli, C., Reis, R.A. & Vasconcelos, Vânia R. 1994c. Produção e digestibilidade de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.). 3 - Estação de verão. Anais da XXXI Reunião Anual da SBZ, Maringá, PR, Brazil.

Takahashi, R., Sugohara, A., Resende, K. T., Reis, R. A. & Brazão, C. S. 1992. Produção de matéria seca de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.) no inverno, visando sua utilização na alimentação de ruminantes. Anais da XXIX Reunião Anual da SBZ - Lavras, MG, Brazil.

Takahashi, R., Sugohara, A., Resende, K. T., Reis, R. A. & Vasconcelos, V. R. 1994. Produção e digestibilidade de cultivares de amoreira (Morus alba L.). 1 - Estação da primavera. Anais da XXXI Reunião Anual da SBZ, Maringá, PR, Brazil.

Tilley, J. M. & Terry, R. A. 1993. A two stage for the in vitro digestion of forage crops. J.Br.Grassland Soc. 18: 104-111.

Vasconcelos, V. R., Resende, K. T., Sugohara, A., Costa, R. G. & Takahashi, R. 1994. Características de degradação da matéria seca e proteína bruta da amoreira (Morus alba L.) por caprinos. Anais da XXXI Reunião Anual da SBZ, Maringá, PR, Brazil.