Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the chemical composition, fractionation of nitrogen compounds and carbohydrates, digestibility parameters, gas production kinetics and ruminal fermentation of fruit seed cakes. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three fruit seed cakes (treatments) and four replications. The cakes were made of seeds of custard apple (Annona squamosa), soursop (Annona muricata) and passion fruit (Passiflora edulis), which were collected in a biodiesel plant. The passion fruit seed cake presented the highest content of dry matter, neutral detergent fibre crude protein (NDFcp), acid detergent fibre (ADF), lignin and total carbohydrates (P<0.05). The custard apple seed cake presented high proportions of crude protein, condensed tannins and digestible energy (P<0.05). The soursop seed cake presented higher values for ether extract and total digestible nutrients (P<0.05). For potential degradability, the authors detected a difference between the custard apple, soursop and passion fruit seed cakes. The total volume of gases was higher for custard apple and soursop seed cakes. Custard apple seed cake presented higher proportions of in vitro degradation parameters (P<0.05). Thus this cake could provide greater nutrient levels when supplied in ruminant diets, followed by soursop seed cake and passion fruit seed cake.
 Keywords: alternative food, by-products, ruminant feeding, seed cake, semi-arid
Highlights
In arid and semi-arid regions, shortages of forage are observed every year and these periods of scarcity negatively affect productivity of ruminant livestock
Soursop seed cake contained higher values for ether extract (194.6 g/kg dry matter (DM)) and total digestible nutrients (789.1 g/kg DM) (Table 1).The highest contents of NDIP, ADIP, hemicellulose and cellulose were found for custard apple and soursop seed cakes (P
1g/kg of natural material; 2g/kg of dry matter; 3g/kg of crude protein; 4MJ/kg of dry matter; NDFap: neutral detergent fibre corrected for ash and protein; SEM: standard error of mean; means followed by the same letter do not differ (P >0.05) by Tukey test
Summary
In arid and semi-arid regions, shortages of forage are observed every year and these periods of scarcity negatively affect productivity of ruminant livestock. It is recommended to supplement animals during periods of shortage with conserved forage and concentrates to correct nutritional deficiencies, which increases production costs and reduces profitability (Maneerat et al, 2015). The growing interest in the use of agro-industrial by-products as animal feed is because of increased environmental and economic concerns (Almeida et al, 2019). Some by-products are restricted to certain regions, while others are found throughout the country. Successful use of these byproducts in animal feed is often limited by poor knowledge of their nutritional characteristics and economic value as feed ingredients, as well as the lack of performance data of animals fed this type of feed (TorresLéon et al, 2018)
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