In Italy, the value of mulberry leaves for feeding dairy cows has been recognized since the beginning of the 20th century, but there has been no new progress until recent research has brought mulberry leaves into the category of pasture. In India, there are also research reports on the use of mulberry leaves to feed different livestock (such as rabbits, laying hens, sheep, goats and dairy cows), but its status in livestock production has not been recognized and its potential has not been further developed. There are three reasons for today's interest in planting mulberry and raising livestock.

First, the sericulture industry has declined due to foreign product competition, and it is necessary to seek other ways to use mulberry leaves. This is the case in Japan and Italy; The use of mulberry leaves as part of the planning strategy of forage production for dairy cows and small ruminants, such as France, Italy and other countries; the third is to use mulberry leaves as basic nutrients for livestock, which initially started in Costa Rica in the 1980s, and then expanded to Latin American countries and In the Caribbean countries, in the mountains of Kenya and Tanzania, mulberry leaves are also used as part of mixed rations for dairy cows, and some studies have been done on the nutritional value of mulberry leaves in goats. Currently, the country with the most research on mulberry leaves as animal feed is Cuba, which is regarded as an important part of the country's animal husbandry production that relies less on imports and maintains a balanced and stable sustainable development strategy.

The most notable feature of mulberry leaf as feed, especially green feed, is its high digestibility, which has been repeatedly proved by in vivo and in vitro tests. Usually, the digestibility of mulberry leaf is 70% to 90%. Another important feature of mulberry leaf as livestock feed is that it has good palatability to all livestock. When animals first come into contact with mulberry leaf, it is easy to accept it without feeding obstacles. If the animal is already familiar with mulberry leaf, it will Prefer mulberry leaves over other forages. The dry matter intake of mulberry leaves by sheep was very high, reaching 4.2% of their body weight per day; the feed intake of sheep was also very high, reaching 3.4% of their body weight. As a supplement for lactating cows, mulberry leaves can increase milk production and reduce feed costs; as a supplement for young calves, mulberry leaves can save the consumption of milk or milk replacer and promote the development and growth of the calf's rumen. The study by Yan Bing et al. showed that the use of mulberry leaves as a supplement for the treatment of straw-based diets when the residual by-products (straw) of grains are used as the basic feed is of great significance to livestock production.

Tateno et al.; Sudo et al. pointed out that adding 6% mulberry leaf powder to laying hens' diets can improve egg yolk color, increase egg weight and egg production when 9% mulberry leaf powder is added to laying hens' diets The weight and egg production were similar to those of the control fed with commercial batches, and the egg yolk and palladium were significantly improved; when mulberry leaves were added to the diet, the content of vitamin K and β-carotene in egg white and egg yolk also increased significantly; From the perspective of livestock production and environmental protection, adding mulberry leaf powder to the diet can also significantly reduce ammonia emissions in poultry manure.