Nutritional and chemical evaluation of dried pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) peels and studying the impact of level of inclusion in ration formulation on productive performance of growing Ossimi lambs

Abstract

BackgroundBy 2050, the world will need to feed an additional 2 billion people and require 70% more meat and milk. The increasing future demand for livestock products, driven by increases in income, population, and urbanization will impose a huge demand on feed resources. A huge quantity of fruit and vegetable wastes and by-products from the fruit and vegetable processing industry are available throughout the world that encourages to using it as a new source feeds in animal ration formulation.MethodsTwenty-eight male growing Ossimi lambs used to study the impact of inclusion dried pomegranate peels (DPP) on productive performance and economic efficiency. In nutritional and chemical evaluation conducted, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, polyphenolic, and fatty acid compositions were determined. Experimental lambs were allocated to one of four complete feed mixture (CFM) containing 0, 0.50, 1.00, and 2.00% DPP for (CFM1, CFM2, CFM3, and CFM4), respectively throughout the feeding period that continuous for 119 days. Twenty-eight lambs with aged 5–6 months with initial weight of 22.875 ± 0.38 kg were divided into four equal groups, each of 7 lambs and fed one of the four iso-nitrogenous that contains 17.1% CP and iso-energetic that contained 2.76% of ether extract (EE) and gross energy (GE) ranged from 4212 to 4214 kcal/kg DM.ResultsDried pomegranate peel superior in their contents of crude fiber (CF), ether extract (EE), ash, and lignin in comparison with yellow corn. Meanwhile, yellow corn was superior in CP, nitrogen-free extract (NFE), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), hemicellulose, cellulose, and GE contents in comparison with dried pomegranate peel. Total essential amino acid value was recorded at 51.30 g/100 g CP; meanwhile, value of non-essential amino acids was recorded at 48.37 g/100 g CP. The DPP contained 342, 120, 150, 68, and 56 mg/100 g of calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sodium (Na), and magnesium (Mg), respectively. Meanwhile, it contains 1.08, 0.86, 0.65, 6.11, and 1.07 mg/100 g of zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), cobber (Cu), iron (Fe), and selenium (Se), respectively. Moreover, vitamins were determined by 0.141, 0.09, 13.26, 4.13, and 0.181 mg/100 g for vit. B1; vit. B2; vit. C; vit. E; and vit. A, respectively. Dried pomegranate peel contains high percentages of unsaturated fatty acids that evaluated by 76.96%, while saturated fatty acids (SFA) recorded 23.04%. DPP contained 1.4404% of total polyphenols. Final weight, total body weight gain, and average daily gain were improved. Dry matter intake was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased when expressed as g/h/d and g/kgW0.75, while feed conversion insignificantly (P > 0.05) improved. Dietary treatment improved relative economical efficiency by 117.1, 130.3, and 109% compared with control one with considered control ration equals 100%. Feed cost (LE/kg gain) was decreased.ConclusionFrom this study, it could be mentioned that dried pomegranate peels can be used safely in animal feeding at level of 1% because this level realized the best growth performance and depressed the price of ration cost and recorded the best relative economical efficiency.