| Palm Kernel Cake
(PKC) as a Supplement for
F.Y. Chin ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Palm oil milling is a major industry in Malaysia. The total area under oil palm covers more than 2 million hectares. The industry, besides producing palm oil, also produces by-products usable as animal feed. These are palm kernel cake, palm oil sludge (POS) and palm pressed fibre (PPF). The most useful is palm kernel cake, which is the solid residue left behind after the extraction of oil from the kernels of the palm fruits. It is now well entrenched as a major feed ingredient in beef and dairy feed in the country. The PKC is obtained out from two stages of oil extraction from the palm fruit. The first stage is the primary extraction of palm oil from the pericarp portion of the fruit, which also produces the kernel and by-products POS and PPF. The extraction of oil from crushed kernel then results in the production of PKC as by-product. Two methods are used for the extraction of oil from the crushed kernels. These are the conventional mechanical screwpress method that results in the expeller pressed palm kernel cake and the solvent (usually hexane) extraction method that results in the solvent extracted type. The estimated annual total production of PKC is at 1.4 million tons. This paper outlines the use of palm kernel cake for the fattening of cattle and as a supplement for milk production in dairy cattle. Nutritive value of PKC Table 1. Nutrient Composition of solvent extracted and expeller pressed PKC.
The main difference between the solvent extracted PKC and the expeller pressed type is in the ether extract or oil content. The oil content of the former is low, around 0.5 to 3 percent, while that in the latter is higher and ranges between 5 to 12 percent, depending on the extent of oil extraction. No difference can be found in the crude protein contents between the two types, which range from 14.6 to 16.0 percent on dry matter basis. Work to evaluate the potential usefulness of palm kernel cake through chemical and biological determination has been pursued quite extensively by several researchers in Malaysia. Digestibility of solvent extracted PKC was determined, using Kedah-Kelantan breed of cattle at 65.1% for dry matter, 72.7% for organic matter, 69.7% for crude protein and 86.7% for the nitrogen – free - extract component (Miyashige et al. 1987). Digestibility coefficients for expeller pressed PKC of 70.0% for dry matter, 63% for crude protein, 52.0% for acid-detergent fibre (ADF), 53.0% for neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and 88% for gross energy were obtained using sheep (Suparjo and Rahman, 1987). The expeller pressed PKC thus had 11.0% digestible crude protein (DCP), 21.0% digestible ADF, 40.0% digestible NDF and 14.89 MJ/kg of digestible energy (DE). These figures show that PKC is a reasonably an efficient feed for ruminants. Suitability of PKC for fattening and in supplementary feeding Cattle fattening with PKC The average daily gain of the Australian Commercial Cross (ACC), another beef breed, fed with PKC was found to be very promising at about 0.84 kg, with a feed conversion ratio of 6.96 (Hutagalung et al. 1986). Sahiwal-Friesian animals were fed with solvent (extracted PKC and expeller pressed PKC, with a low fat content of 7% (Yusoff et al. 1987). No significant difference in performance was found between the two groups of animals, with 0.75 kg daily gain for those fed expeller pressed PKC and 0.69 kg for those on solvent extracted PKC. PKC is often used in combination with other oil palm by-products for cattle fattening. PKC had been mixed with PPF for feeding growing dairy bull calves, where the PPF primarily served as a fibre source (Cameons, 1978). The performances of Droughtmaster animals was compared with Brahman bull calves fed a ration of PKC with palm oil mill effluent (POME), another term commonly used for POS, in the ratio of 60/40 (Yahya and Ibrahim, 1985). Droughmaster were also found to be superior compared to the Brahman in terms of a better carcass analysis. In the same study, Droughmaster fed with the above diet were compared with Droughmaster grazing only Brachiaria decumbens pasture. The animals fed with PKC/POME ration achieved 0.81 kg daily gain as compared to only 0.25 kg obtained by those grazing pasture. Local indigenous Kedah - Kelantan cattle were fed in a feedlotting experiment with rations involving both the solvent extracted and expeller pressed PKC with POME and a ration of solvent extracted PKC and POME in a 50/50 ratio was observed to be the best treatment with a daily gain of 0.60 kg and a corresponding feed conversion ratio of 6.29 (Shamsuddin et al. 1987). Sahiwal-Friesian animals had been fed with both the solvent extracted and the expeller pressed PKC in combination with dried sago pith at 50/50 ratio of PKC and the sago pith (Yusoff et al. 1987). No significant difference in daily gains was found between the solvent extracted PKC/sago pith group and the expeller pressed PKC/sago pith group. However, it was reported that animals on these diets produced better weight gains of 0.83 kg for those on expeller pressed/sago pith and 0.82 kg for those on the solvent extracted PKC/ sago pith, as compared to animals fed 100% PKC without the sago pith. This was obviously due to the higher energy availability of diets with sago pith inclusion. It has been earlier found out that there was no significant difference in the daily gain among Sahiwal-Friesian dairy heifers fed with napier grass plus 2 kg of supplementary rations comprising PKC alone or with either cassava or molasses as energy supplement (Yusoff, 1985). Results of weight gain performance of various breeds of cattle fed PKC and PKC based diets in different trials and observations undertaken by various workers have been cited (Hawari and Chin, 1985; Mustaffa, 1987; Mustaffa et al. 1987) and these are summarized in Table 2. Average daily liveweight gains ranged from a lowly 0.39 kg achieved by the indigenous Kedah-Kelantan cattle fed a 100% expeller pressed PKC diet to 0.83 kg obtained by Droughtmaster cattle fed a mixed ration comprising 60% solvent extracted PKC and 40% POME.Supplementary Feeding of PKC to Dairy Cattle. Table 2. Weight gains of cattle fed 100% PKC1 and PKC mixed diets
The performance of Sahiwal-Friesian cows fed with conventional dairy concentrate mixture without PKC was compared with those fed with identical amounts of solvent extracted PKC (Ganabathi, 1983). Cows fed PKC performed almost similarly to those fed with the conventional ration, obtaining 7.7 kg of milk daily over a 200-day period, the difference was not significant compared with the 8.4 kg of daily milk production for the conventional ration. The advantage is in the cost of feeding the PKC mixture being cheaper at 0.28 sen per kg as compared to 0.43 sen per kg for the conventional dairy ration. In the same trial, when comparing the use of solvent extracted PKC and expeller pressed PKC for milk production, it was found out that solvent extracted PKC gave significantly better milk production than the expeller pressed type. Over a 170 days milking period, cows fed solvent extracted PKC produced 7.9 kg milk daily while those fed with expeller pressed type produced only 4.8 kg milk daily. Strategy of using PKC for fattening and supplementary feeding of cattle Cattle fattening with PKC Supplementary feeding of PKC ration to dairy cattle Impact from use of PKC for fattening and supplementary feeding of cattle PKC plays a significant role in the feedlotting programme undertaken to increase the supply of meat in the country. In fact, the feedlotting activities thrive mainly because of the availability of this economic feeding material. Currently, there are 96 feedlots throughout the country, of which two are major ones, fattening 41,227 cattle annually. Similarly, being the major ingredient in formulated rations for supplementary feeding of dairy cattle, PKC is thus important in the development of the local milk industry. Its utilisation has effectively reduced the cost of milk production as a result of substituting expensive conventional feedstuffs, such as fishmeal, with a more economical and locally available one that also meets the nutrient requirements of livestock. PKC has enabled the economic development of the cattle fattening and milk production sectors of the livestock industry. Its advent as a feeding material has also increased profitability to farmers undertaking feedlotting and dairy production; improving their income, standard of living and social standing in society. Table 3. Recommended formulation.
CONCLUSION PKC is a reasonably good economic feed for cattle, both for fattening and supplementary feeding. It is an agro-industrial by-product that is being produced locally and within the Southeast Asian region in sizeable quantity and should thus be exploited fully. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author wishes to thank the Director General of Veterinary Services, Malaysia, permission to present and publish this paper. REFERENCES
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