THE DIGESTIBILITY OF POTATO PULP PROTEIN BY SOME SPECIES OF FARM ANIMALS

Abstract

The digestibility of dried potato pulp, a by-product from the cold water extraction of starch from raw potato, was determined in two experiments with sheep and one with pigs. Both animal species digested the organic matter satisfactorily (77% and 84% for the sheep and pigs respectively), but the apparent digestibility of the crude protein was low (27% and 23% respectively). An exploratory experiment showed that a horse readily consumed a concentrate mixture containing 50% dried potato pulp and digested a high proportion of the organic matter. The addition of soybean oil meal to a ration of hay and potato pulp for sheep resulted in a 25% reduction in the apparent digestibility of the potato pulp protein. Possible causes of the low apparent digestibility of potato pulp protein are discussed.