Potential nutritive value and anti-methanogenic potential of pomegranate peel for sheep

Abstract

The aim of the current experiment was to determine potential nutritive value and anti-methanogenic potential of pomegranate peels obtained from 12 different pomegranate fruits in Turkiye. There are significant variations among pomegranate peel (PP) samples in terms of chemical composition, gas production, methane production, metabolisable energy (ME) and organic matter digestibility (OMD). The crude ash (CA), ether extract (EE), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and condensed tannin (CT) contents of PP samples ranged from 2.99 to 4.72%, 2.11 to 5.25 %, 2.53 and 6.36 %, 20.79 to 27.29%, 11.71 and 17.96%, 0.79 to 3.39% respectively. Gas production and CH4 production of PP samples ranged from 41.07 to 57.22, 5.29 and 7.87 respectively whereas percentage of CH4 ranged from 12.51 and 14.03%. The ME and OMD of PP samples ranged from 7.92 to 10.84 MJ/kg and 54.43 to 68.95% respectively. Although PP samples studied in the current experiment have the low CH4 reduction potentials, the CP contents of PP samples are not sufficient to meet minimum level of CP requirement for sheep. Therefore protein supplementation is required for optimum rumen function and feed intake in ruminant animals when large amount of PP samples were included into ruminant diets. However before large implication, there is a need for in vivo experiment to test the mitigating effect of PP samples.