Abstract: Mulberry leaves, rich in nutrients and functional ingredients, is used as both food and medicine in China. In order to meet the demand for specialized edible mulberry varieties in the diversified development of mulberry trees, factor analysis method was applied to comprehensively evaluate the nutritional quality of leaves from 45 mulberry germplasms and varieties for the purpose of screening specialized mulberry varieties for edible leaves in this study. Results showed that 13 nutrients in leaves from 45 mulberry germplasms and varieties were obviously different and some nutrients had a significant correlation with each other, providing a theoretical basis for screening specialized mulberry varieties for edible leaves. In addition, the main factors influencing the nutritional quality of mulberry leaves were found to be harmful trace element factors, beneficial trace element factors, weight factors, carbohydrate factors and nutritional quality cofactors. The cumulative variance contribution rate of the seven factors above was up to 89%. Our results showed that Jialing No.20, Hongguo No.1 and Baiyuwang were ranked as the top three respectively based on comprehensive evaluation of the nutritional quality of mulberry leaves. Among these Jialing No.20 was the optimal candidate variety for a high yield of edible mulberry leaves.

Key words: mulberry, nutritional quality, comprehensive evaluation, factor analysis