Phytochemical Investigation on Assessment of Leaf Quality of Different Mulberry Germplasm Genotypes

The growth and development of the silkworm, Bombyx mori and the cocoon crop are influenced by the yield and nutritional value of the mulberry leaf used as feed. It is true that there are disparities in leaf quality between mulberry genotypes, which explain the variations in silkworm rearing. The present study used mulberry genotypes of S1635, S164, S13, Chinese White, Chak Majra, C4, G4, C2038, V1 and K2 to estimate several biochemical components in tender mulberry leaves. Lowry's method was used to calculate the amount of protein, Anthrone method [1] was used to calculate the amount of total carbohydrates, Ninhydrin method was used for estimation of total proline, the amount of chlorophyll was calculated by Arnon method and direct method was used for estimation of moisture content in tender leaves of different mulberry varieties. V1 tender leaves (26.30 mg/g) had considerably lower total protein contents compared to S13 (49.05 mg/g) and Chinese white (48.55 mg/g) tender leaves. Tender leaves from S13 (10.40 mg/g) and V1 (7.55 mg/g) had greater total carbohydrate levels than tender leaves from S1635 (2.55 mg/g). The levels of total chlorophyll in tender leaves from S13 (2.59 mg/g) and S1635 (2.56 mg/g) were higher than those in tender leaves from C2038 (1.74 mg/g). Tender leaves from S164 (3.90 mg/g) and S13 (3.26 mg/g) had greater amounts of total proline than tender leaves from C2038 (2.00 mg/g). Total proline levels were greater in Chinese white (80.15%) and C4 (78.60%) tender leaves than in S164 tender leaves (61.51%).