Characterisation of Mulberry Leaf Pellet as Rabbit Feed

Feed is one the essential factor for rabbit livestock production. Generally, commercial feed or concentrates are quite expensive although it has a significant impact on rabbit growth performance. However, there is abundance of tropical forages especially for multi-purpose trees such as Mulberry species (Morus spp.) which can act as alternative protein source in a partial or complete substitute for commercial feed. The objectives of this study were to assess and to compare the nutritive values and chemical composition of Mulberry leaf in pelleted form with commercial rabbit pellet using proximate
analysis. The Mulberry leaf was formulated by mixing the leaves with binding agent and other materials to make Mulberry leaf pellet. The proximate composition of pellet was evaluated to check the dry matter, crude protein, crude fibre and crude fat and ash contents. Mulberry leaf contained 33.97±1.06 of DM content, 24.10±0.32 of CP,
41.55% of CF, 1.58±0.05 of EE and 10.15±0.09 of ash content. On the other hand, Mulberry leaf pellet contained 91.07±0.10 of DM content, 19.43±0.08 of CP, 8.17% of CF, 5.98%±0.04 of EE and 10.96±0.02 of ash content. In general, the chemical composition was shown a significant different between the groups except for ash and crude fiber analysis only. Hence, this finding also indicate that Mulberry leaf is an excellent feed for high yielding animal and can be offered either in fresh or dried in compounded feed. The data obtained will help the rabbit farmers in Malaysia to improve the utilization of underrated tropical forages especially for this multi-purpose tree as a lowly-cost of rabbit feed. Thus, Mulberry leaf pellet have potential to become as substitution for a pricey commercial rabbit pellet.