Rediscovering the Realm of Fruiting Mulberry Varieties

Abstract

The fruiting mulberry tree, Morus spp.,was once admired as “easily the king of tree crops.” Fruiting mulberry varieties of all three major species, Morus nigra, Morus alba,and Morus rubra,peaked in popularity in the United States around the turn of the century. Today, only black mulberries, Morus nigra,are grown commercially, and only in Europe and Turkey. Most of the recent mulberry breeding and production research has been directed towards silkworm forage rather than fruit. Fruiting mulberry varieties deserve to be rediscovered and improved for commercial production in the United States because the mulberry has many advantages as a fruit crop.