FRUIT AND VEGETABLE FACTORY BY-PRODUCTS
India is emerging as a major producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. The country produced about 50 Mt of fruits and 90 Mt of vegetables. Currently there are about 20,000 fruits and vegetable processing units in the country due to which less than one per cent of the total produce is processed, though the installed capacity of the processing industry has grown steadily. The main problem in the utilization of waste materials from fruit preservation factories is their high water content and transportation.
Mango (Magnifera indica) Seed Kernel/Cake: Mango seed kernels are the by- products from the fruit canning industry after the extraction of kernel oil. The rough estimates show that the availability of the kernel may be in the neighborhood of about 1.35 Mt per year. Extensive work has been done on the utilization of mango seed kernel as a livestock feed,. It contains 6 per cent DCP and 70 % TDN. It is rich in tannins which may vary from 5 to 7 % and can be used as one of the ingredients in livestock rations. The kernel meal has been successfully used as a constituent of the concentrate mixture up to a level of 40 % without any detrimental effect on adult Kankrej bullocks.
Tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum ) Pomace: India produces about 8.6 MT of tomatoes as estimated for the year 2007. It consists of skin, pulp and seeds after the extraction of juice from the tomato fruits (20 %) in the canning industry. The residue after drying and grinding becomes a good feed ingredient for feeding ruminant animals. Dried and ground tomato pomace contains about 1.5 % DCP and 41 % TDN and can replace satisfactorily the bran component on equi-weight basis up to one-third portion of a concentrate mixture.
Citrus Waste: Citrus fruits are abundantly produced throughout the country (2.1 Mt) and mainly include malta (Citrus spp.), orange (C. aurantium) and grape fruit (C. paradise). Lemon and lime also fall in this group. Citrus fruit wastes contain 6-8% crude protein and 9 to 12% fiber with a nutritive value of 1.5-2.0% DCP and 74.0% TDN. Citrus pulp is palatable, cheaper and can form up to 25% of concentrate mixture for dairy cattle as a source of energy. Dried citrus waste can be included up to 30% in the concentrate mixture for ruminants.
Citrus Peels: These include dried and ground citrus, orange and lemon peels that can be used as one of the ingredients of concentrate mixture meant for ruminant feeding. The citrus peels can be included up to 33 % level in the concentrate mixture without any adverse effect.
Banana (Musa paradisiaca) Waste: India produces about 21.8 Mt of different varieties of bananas. The wastes are by-products of banana harvesting and packing. They are mainly fed to cattle and buffaloes in India. Banana stems are being fed to pigs in countries like China traditionally. The discarded waste fruits usually represent about 10-20% of the total crop. Bananas have a high energy and low protein content and can be fed either raw or chips or after making silage.
Pineapple (Ananas comosus) Wastes: Pineapple is the third most important commercial tropical fruit crops in the world. The annual production of pineapple in India accounts to 1.1 Mt during the year 2007. Pineapple wastes of potentially high value for livestock feeding are available in plenty in states like Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. It’s nutritive value is equivalent to cereal grains on a dry matter basis. These wastes are being fed extensively in fresh form to feed-lot cattle with success in countries like Philippines , pineapple it is fed in ensiled form together with poultry litter molasses, vitamin and mineral supplement in Malaysia.
Apple (Malus sylvestris) Pomace: Apple promace is mostly available as fresh having 85 % moisture content during apple season, as a residue of apple juice industry and has a very good palatability. It is dried and made available for inclusion in the compound feed industry. Locally it is fed to livestock in a fresh form as energy source in the rations of both to ruminants and poultry