Cocos nucifera

Coconut

Useful reference: 110

The ripe fruit of the coconut palm has a hard shell covered by a fibrous outer coat and contains an edible kernel with the coconut in the centre. The nut is split open, and the edible kernel is dried to a moisture content below 6% to prevent deterioration. The dried meat, called copra, is then subjected to pressing or extraction. The residue is known as coconut (oil) meal (or cake), copra meal or poonac. Depending on the milling equipment, the oil residue in the marketed product ranges from 1% to 22%. Hydraulic press residue is usually marketed in flat round cakes, and the other grades are sold in dark-coloured lumps. The product known as sediment meal is quite distinct, however, as it is recovered from the filter pads of the oil-straining presses. On the average 1000 nuts will produce about 180 kg of copra, and the processing of this amount of copra yields about 110 kg of oil and 55 kg of meal, the remainder being evaporated moisture and unavoidable losses. The fibrous coat (husk) has no feed value. The dust from processing the husks into fibre (coir dust) has been suggested as a carrier for molasses. Coconut orchards can be grazed when the leaves can no longer be reached by the grazing animals. It is often necessary to apply extra fertilizer to orchards that are being grazed as the coconut leaves tend to become yellow.

COCONUT WATER. Coconut water is usually wasted when the nuts are split open. The dry matter content of coconut water declines as the nut matures and is a meagre source of nutrients when the nuts are harvested for copra. On estates the coconut water is sometimes fed to cattle in place of ordinary drinking water. At first it has purgative effect, but cattle soon become accustomed to it. It has also been used as a substrate for the microorganism Rhodotorula pilimanae and as an ingredient of a semen extender for artificial insemination.

COPRA. Copra is usually too expensive to use as an animal feed, though it has been fed to pigs and poultry with good results. As the fat in copra contains only small amounts of unsaturated fatty acids, its consumption leads to firm body fat and good flavour.

COCONUT MEAL. Coconut cake or meal used in feeding must not be old and rancid as it will cause diarrhoea. Because it swells considerably in water, it should be moistened before it is fed in large amounts. Animals which are not used to it are at first somewhat reluctant to feed on this product, but if it is introduced slowly into the ration, they soon acquire a liking for it. It is claimed that it increases the fat content of the milk. It also affects the butterfat in the milk by making it harder and lending it a pleasant flavour. The maximum safe amount for dairy cows seems to be 1.5-2 kg daily; larger quantities may result in tallowy butter. Beef cattle can consume much more without impairment of carcass quality.

Because coconut meal is rather rich in fibre, its inclusion in pig diets is restricted. Depending on the other ingredients it may constitute up to 25% of the total diet. In areas where coconut meal is abundant, and if one is prepared to accept less efficient feed conversion, up to 50% can be used. It produces firm fat in pigs.

Coconut meal is seldom used in poultry rations because of difficulties in formulating a ration that is balanced with respect to amino acids and sufficiently low in fibre and high in energy. Lysine is a special problem as much of this acid is apparently destroyed in the screw press. Poultry rations of up to 40% coconut meal have been formulated and tested, however. In these the energy content is increased by the addition of coconut oil and the amino acids are balanced by the addition of methionine and lysine or of fish meal. Coconut meal made from mouldy copra is unsuitable fur poultry diets.

PARING MEAL. Paring meal consists of the outside of the shelled coconut, which is trimmed off in the preparation of shredded coconut for human consumption. It contains a protein of higher biological value than that of coconut meal because it is not heat processed.

					As % of dry matter
				DM	CP	CF	Ash	EE	NFE	Ca	P	Ref
Coconut water,
Nigeria				5.2	4.4	6.5	12.3	6.0	70.8	5.77	3.85	374
Copra, Malaysia				50.0	7.4	3.0	2.0	68.0	19.6	0.03	0.26	292
Copra, Philippines				51.3	9.7	4.3	2.9	64.4	18.7			300
Oil meal, solvent
extracted, Iraq				93.4	20.5	26.1	7.0	0.4	46.0			182
Oilcake, single
pressing, Malaysia				88.7	19.5	8.5	5.4	18.4	48.2			292
Oilcake, double
pressing, Malaysia				88.2	20.0	8.3	5.9	11.7	54.1			"
Oilcake, expeller,
Trinidad				88.8	25.2	10.8	6.0	5.2	52.8	0.08	0.67	191
Oilcake, expeller,
Philippines				91.7	22.7	10.5	5.5	7.7	53.3			300
Coir dust,
Tanzania				87.1	2.3	34.2	7.6	0.7	55.2			355
							Digestibility (%)
					Animal		CP	CF	EE	NFE	ME	Ref
Oilcake, expeller					Sheep		91.0	35.0	95.0	80.0	3.14	365
Copra					Pigs		83.8	84.0	95.4	91.4	6.72	300
Oilcake, expeller					Pigs		73.4	49.5	89.6	72.0	3.20	"
					Nylon bag degradability
						a	b	c		12hr	48hr	Ref
						(%)	(%)	(/hour)		(%)	(%)
Copra					DM	32.3	42.4	0.0307			65.6	627
	[P (rumen degradability at time t) = a+b*(1-exp(-c*t))]
		Amino acid composition as % of crude protein
Oilcake											Ref	372
Arg	Cys	Gly	His	Ils	Leu	Lys	Met	Phe	Thr	Try	Tyr	Val
11.0	0.9	4.2	2.1	3.0	6.0	2.5	1.0	4.1	3.0	-	2.2	4.7
Paring meal											Ref	433
Arg	Cys	Gly	His	Ils	Leu	Lys	Met	Phe	Thr	Try	Tyr	Val
17.9	5.8	5.3	3.5	4.0	7.7	6.4	1.6	4.8	3.8	-	3.1	5.8