Ananas comosus

Perennial stemless plant with long, narrow, fibrous and usually spiny leaves. Native to tropical America, but now cultivated in many warm countries. The fruit grows on an erect stout stalk at the centre of the plant.

Up to 80 tons of leaves per hectare are available annually after harvesting of the fruits. The leaves are a good feed for ruminants and can be used fresh, artificially dried or ensiled. In all cases they must be chopped before use. If ensiled, they should be combined with molasses. Ruminants can be fed 15-20 kg of fresh or ensiled plants daily. No harmful effects have been recorded. The leaf meal cannot be used for pigs or poultry. The dried leaves can advantageously be pelleted.

When the fruits are canned, the outer peel and the central core are discarded. The waste, called pineapple bran, accounts for about 50% of the total pineapple weight, corresponding to about 10 tons of fresh bran or one ton of dry bran per hectare. The bran can be used fresh for feeding, but it is usually artificially dried with approximately 9% molasses and ground into a meal. It can also be dried in the sun by itself in about three days. If the waste is pressed before drying, the process takes less than a day; however, soluble nutrients are lost in the pressing. The bran is difficult to ensile because of its high moisture content and corrosive nature. It is best ensiled with hay or wilted grass. Molasses or a source of starch usually has to be added to ensure satisfactory fermentation.

The bran, either fresh or dried, is a good feed for ruminants and is usually mixed with grass as the roughage portion of the diet. It has also been used at levels as high as 50% in diets for older pigs, but at high levels the rate of weight gain decreases and feed conversion is lowered. It is not beneficial to poultry. Sometimes citric acid is commercially extracted from pineapple juice. The extracted juice can be concentrated to pineapple syrup, which has given very satisfactory gains in older pigs fed 80% syrup and 20% protein supplements.


					As % of dry matter

				DM	CP	CF	Ash	EE	NFE	Ca	P	Ref
Fresh leaves,
Hawaii				20.6	9.1	23.6	4.9	1.6	60.8			371

Silage of leaves,
Hawaii				19.1	6.0	22.8	10.0	2.9	58.3			"

Dried bran (cannery
residue), Kenya				87.6	3.5	16.2	5.2	0.5	74.6	0.29	0.11	418


									Digestibility (%)

					Animal		CP	CF	EE	NFE	ME	Ref

Leaves					Sheep		77.1	81.8	60.2	76.0	2.75	371

Bran					Sheep		0.0	76.7	0.0	79.2	2.59	418
		Amino acid composition as % of crude protein

Bran											Ref	376

Arg	Cys	Gly	His	Ils	Leu	Lys	Met	Phe	Thr	Try	Tyr	Val
1.8	0.3	-	1.0	3.5	5.5	2.0	0.5	8.5	3.3	3.0	6.8	4.3

Ananas comosus

Pineapple

References

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