Investigation of mulberry farm’s soil properties and mulberry leaf nutritive components in local areas of Korea

Mulberry is a hardy, perennial, deep-rooted plant capable of thriving under diverse agroclimatic conditions. The selection of suitable land and appropriate variety can help the sustainable mulberry field. However, no conclusive and comprehensive investigation has been conducted on the mulberry soil properties and nutritional composition of mulberry cultivars from Korea local areas in previous studies. In our study, soil properties and mulberry leaf components of Korea local mulberry farms were briefly investigated. In result, the soil organic matter (OM) content was significantly high in Buan (6.81%) and Jangseong (6.14%). In contrast, available phosphate (P 2 O 5 ) was different in each local area. To investigate relationship between soil property and nutritive component of mulberry leaf, Cheongil leaf samples from 8 local areas were analyzed. Among the macrominerals (K + , Ca 2+ , Na + , and Mg 2+ ), the concentration of K varied from (1884±9.36) mg/100 g to (2685±11.5) mg/100 g. The potassium (K + ) of Cheongil leaf in Sangju was the highest at 2685 mg/100 g. Besides macrominerals, flavonoids, total dietary fiber contents and moisture of Cheongil leaf samples were studied in the 8 local areas. In terms of these contents, the variation was largely depending on the local areas. This study provides a possible industrial use of mulberry, and holds promise to enhance the overall profitability of sericulture.