Rumen microbial degradation of full-fat and defatted palm oil sludge (POS) in a consecutive batch culture system

Abstract

In Indonesia the production of POS increased rapidly as the areas of palm oil plantation increased. The POS contains high protein (15%), fibre (18%), and fat (20%) and thus likely to have the potential to provide high levels of protein and carbohydrate supplements for ruminant. However, the fast development of POS production in Indonesia is not supported by good researches to examine its nutritive value. High fat content in the diet of steers (Mooreet al, 1986) has been found to depress the fibre digestibility; it is thought that high fat content in POS could be the limiting factor for the utilisation of the POS by ruminant. Therefore, an experimentin vitrowas conducted to examine the degradation and fermentation of full-fat and defatted POS by rumen micro-organisms.