Mulberry: The Fruit of Heaven’s Choice

Mulberry, belongs to the genus Morus of family Moraceae, consists more than 20 species and several subspecies or varieties. Mulberry is cultivated in many countries for a long time with the sole purpose of feeding the monophagous silkworm Bombyx mori L. In addition to the major utilization of mulberry leaves as silkworm feed, it is being used for many other purposes, for which it is called as Kalpavriksha. The modern interest on the cultivation and use of mulberry for animal feed and medicinal uses has been initiated due to search for alternative uses of mulberry, once the sericulture activities reduced due to competition from foreign countries in case of Japan and Italy. In addition to the major utilization of leaves as silkworm feed, they have many excellent and beneficial functions to do. This has opened a new vista to think about other uses of mulberry apart from silkworm feed. In this context multiple uses of mulberry fruits are being discussed in the paper.