Work

Mulberry (Morus alba) leaves in sheep and goat nutrition: a critical narrative review of rumen function, performance, meat quality, and mechanistic evidence

Year: 2026

Type: review

Abstract: ) leaves combine conventional nutrients with polyphenols and flavonoids and are increasingly evaluated as alternative feeds for sheep and goats. This critical narrative review examines how feed form, processing, inclusion level, replacement strategy, and dietary balance influence nutrient utilization, rumen function, productive performance, carcass traits, and meat quality. The review question, eligibility criteria, evidence hierarchy, and synthesis framework were defined and approved by the authors. Relevant literature was identified and verified across bibliographic databases, publisher and journal platforms, Chinese-language sources, regional scholarly indexes, and backward/forward citation chaining, with direct sheep and goat feeding trials assigned the greatest evidential weight. Mulberry generally maintains intake and growth when complete diets remain nutritionally adequate, whereas excessive replacement of nutrient-dense concentrate can depress performance. Carcass yield is commonly maintained. Several independent trials demonstrate diet-sensitive tenderness, water retention, muscle fatty-acid profiles, and amino-acid composition, although sensory and physicochemical responses remain heterogeneous. Rumen fermentation, microbial-community shifts, antioxidant responses, and tissue lipid or gene-expression pathways provide mechanistic plausibility, but microbiome and omics associations are not treated as causal unless mediation was directly tested. Mulberry should therefore be treated as a context-dependent feed resource rather than a universally beneficial additive.

Source: Frontiers in Veterinary Science

DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2026.1986200