Pereira et al., 2008. Livest. Res. Rural Dev., 20 (1)

The fruit production in northeastern Brazil has been improved, especially in Bahia state, where fruit companies have been installed. During fruit processing, several byproducts are produced which could be used for animal nutrition. The objective of this work was to evaluate the nutritive value of fruit byproducts generated by fruit companies on the south of Bahia state. The fruit byproducts, cashew (Anacardium occidentale), guava (Psidium guajava), soursop (Annona muricata), mango (Mangifera indica) and umbu (Spondias tuberosa), were analysed in terms of chemical composition and in vitro gas production technique. The dry matter content ranged from 12.4% (soursop) to 42.92% (umbu), whereas the crude protein content ranged from 4.95% (mango) to 10.7 (soursop). The cell wall contents were very high. The neutral detergent fibre (FDN) of umbu was 88.0%, whereas the acid detergent fibre (FDA) was 74.8%. The mango peel showed the lowest values of FDN and FDA (23.7 and 14.5%, respectively). However, the mango peel demonstrated the highest potential for ruminal digestibility and kinetics. Guava and umbu residues demonstrated the lowest nutritive value. The fruit residues showed potential as alternative feeds for ruminants. However, in vivo studies were still necessary.