Abstract
Shortage of animal feeds as a result of increased demand and competition for scarcely available animal feeds has led to drastic decrease in animal production globally. In Kenya, utilization of various plant parts including leaves, fruits and bark of various plantations is taking center stage. Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) a member of the pulp family Arecaceae has potential to feed animals from its leftovers after utilization for human food. The study sought to analyze proximate nutritional value composition of Coconut pulp leftovers and its formulated diet as well as in vivo growth performance of BALB/c mice. Formulated coconut pulp leftovers were dried before both phytochemical analysis and in vivo growth performance was determined. The Proximate analysis indicated Coconut pulp leftovers contained; 3.50±0.22% crude protein, 34.15±2.48% dry matter, 65.85±3.97% moisture content, 10.50±1.2422% total sugars and 25.00±0.35% total fats. Analysis of formulated coconut pulp diet indicated elevated crude protein 14.23±0.52%, dry matter 35.97±0.52% and total sugars 20.47±4.26% while moisture content 64.10±0.50% and total fats 22.10±0.50% declined. In vivo results for the Coconut pulp leftovers application on mice model to ascertain growth performance were as follows; weight gain 0.80±0.50%, SGR 0.33±0.29%, FCR 241.67±556.67% and conditional factor 0.47±0.12%. For formulated diet it was weight gain 3.90±3.22%, SGR 1.0483±0.91%, FCR 28.23±28.92% and conditional factor 0.58±0.04%. The result indicates Coconut pulp leftovers have potential for animal feeds diet formulation.
Highlights
Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the palm family Arecaceae, the only accepted of genus Cocos
The formulated feeds were taken to Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in the Center for Biotechnology Research and Development (CBRD) for in vivo experiments
Values are given as means of three replicates ± Standard error of the mean (SEM)
Summary
Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the palm family Arecaceae, the only accepted of genus Cocos. It is found wild and cultivated in India, Srilanka, Maldives, Middle East, USA, Bamuda and other tropical countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, and Pemba Island. Mice Fed with Diet Made from Leftovers from Cocos nucifera Pulp, West Ethiopia this by-product coupled with growing reduction in its usage necessitates the need to investigate nutritional and chemical composition. Analysis of anti-nutritional factors and energy composition to ascertain its suitability for use in production of animal feeds is important with increasing feeds shortage due to high demand [6]
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