Dietary Effect of mulberry (morus alba) leaves supplementation on intestinal villi morphology of broiler chickens

To investigate the effect of dietary Morus alba leaves on intestinal morphology of broiler chickens, 180 one day old Ross chicks were purchased and randomly divided into four equal groups (each group contains 45 chickens in 3 replicates). Group 1 as control group received basal diet, groups 2, 3 and 4 received diet supplemented with 0.25%, 0.5% and 1% Morus alba leaves, respectively. Chicks were provided a standard diet base on corn. Chicks were raised on floor-pen under standard conditions until day 42 of age. At days 21 and 42, six chicks of each group were randomly selected and samples were taken from Duodenum, Jejunum and Ileum for morphometric analysis. The findings of this study showed that increasing dietary Morus alba had positive effect on intestinal morphology parameters and in 1% it was significant (p<0.05). The duodenum villous length and width were significantly (P<0.05) greater in the group supplemented by 1% Morus alba than control. In addition, high levels of Morus alba leaves (0.5% and 1%) increased the surface of small intestine compared to the control group.