Karanja oil cake
Most studies on the use of karanja for ruminants deal with oil cakes obtained after various oil extraction processes aiming at reducing or eliminating antinutritional factors. Based on results obtained on cattle, sheep and goats, it is recommended to limit karanja cake at 15-20% of the diet (DM basis as sole protein source, or partly replacing another oil meal). Beyond this level, karanja cake tends to decrease growth and milk production. The variability between results could be due to the oil extraction process undergone by the seed.
Cattle
With crossbred dairy cows fed solvent-extracted karanja meal, partially (50%) replacing groundnut meal, there was no effect on DM intake, daily weight gain, milk production and milk composition. Higher inclusion rates decreased voluntary feed intake (Konwar et al., 1987b). Similar results were observed in bulls when solvent-extracted karanja oil meal replaced more than 50% groundnut meal in their straw-based diet (Konwar et al., 1987d). However, in bull calves, expeller karanja oil cake included at 4% in a concentrate diet depressed feed intake, caused histopathological changes in vital organs, and produced toxicity symptoms (Gupta et al., 1981 cited by Dutta et al., 2012).
Sheep
In vivo DM and OM digestibilities of karanja cake were reported to be high (85% and 80% respectively) in adult ewes fed Brachiaria hay (Chandrasekaran et al., 1989).
All the experiments on feeding karanja oil cake to sheep have been conducted in India using male lambs at different ages and over long periods. Raw, expeller, solvent-extracted or detoxified karanja oil cake have been tested in lamb diets at levels ranging from 5 to 16% of DM. The main objective was the total or partial replacement of commercial oil meals (soybean, sunflower, groundnut or mustard). The main results are presented and summarized in the table below.
Table 2: Effects of the inclusion of karanja oil cake in lamb diets
Breed |
Experiment |
Substitution rate |
Dietary level |
Main results |
Reference |
Native male lambs (13 kg, 6 m) |
Detoxified karanja cake replacing SBM in a concentrate fed with finger millet straw at 3% BW |
0, 50 or 75% of SBM |
9-15% |
After 140 days, lambs fed with the 75% level weighted less than control lambs (18 vs. 24 kg). DMI of each component (concentrate and straw) were not different. |
Dineshkumar et al., 2013 |
Male lambs (13.7 kg, 6.5 m) |
Detoxified karanja cake replacing SBM in a concentrate fed with finger millet straw at 3% BW (concentrate:straw ratio 50:50) |
0, 25, 50 or 75% of SBM |
5-15% |
Over 140 days, total DMI decreased (from 685 to 511 g/d) with increasing karanja cake levels. OMD was lower with the 2 higher levels of karanja cake. Rumen parameters were not modified. Final BW was lower with the highest karanja cake level compared to 0 and 25% (17.8 vs. 24.4 kg). |
Rao et al., 2015 |
Native male lambs (10 kg, 6-7 m) |
Expeller karanja cake (24%) or solvent extracted karanja cake (20%) replacing 50% GNC in a concentrate fed (230 g/d) with oat hay |
0 or 50% of GNC |
9-10% |
Over 98 days, DMI of concentrate or hay was not different. DMD (53.5 vs. 59 %) and DWG were lower (49 vs. 60 g/d) with expeller treatment than with control or solvent treatment. |
Ravi et al., 2000 |
Native male lambs (10,5 kg, 6-7 m) |
Expeller karanja cake (24%) or solvent extracted karanja cake (20%) replacing GNC in a concentrate (275 g/d) fed with straw |
0 or 50% of GNC |
14-16% |
Over 255 days, DMI of concentrate or straw was not different. No effect on DMD but CP digestibility was lower with expeller karanja cake. Up to 5 week experiment had no effect on DWG then it is null in both expeller and solvent karanja cake. |
Singh et al., 2006 |
Native male lambs (13 kg, 3.5 m) |
Solvent extracted karanja cake treated with toxin binder (B-karanja cake), lime (L-karanja cake) or washed (W-karanja cake) replacing SBM in a concentrate fed with oat straw |
0 or 50% of SBM |
11-14% |
After 90 days feeding, BW was lower with B-karanja cake and L-karanja cake (17.3 vs. 23 kg). Concentrate DMI was also lower (184 vs. 278 g/d). Straw DMI was lower with the 3 solvent extracted karanja cakes than with the control (155 vs. 240 g/d). Digestibility was not modified. |
Soren et al., 2009a; Soren et al., 2009b |
Nellore male lambs (28 kg, 9-10 m) |
Karanja cake compared to sunflower and GNC in a total mixed ration based on sorghum forage (40%) and concentrate (60%) |
100% |
12% |
Over 155 days, DMI (77 vs. 101 g/d) and DWG (28.3 vs. 79 g/d) were lower with karanja cake than with sunflower and GNC (75.3-82.7 g/d). OM digestibility was higher (70.4 vs. 60,5%) but CP digestibility was lower (53 vs. 59%). |
Nagalakshmi et al., 2011 |
CP: crude protein; DMD: dry matter digestibility; DMI: dry matter intake; DWG: daily weight gain; GNC: groundnut cake; OMD: organic matter digestibility; SBM: soybean meal
Karanja oil cake generally had no effect on diet intake, except in one study (Nagalakshmi et al., 2011). The DM or OM digestibility of the diet was either unchanged (Singh et al., 2006) or decreased with higher levels of karanja cake (Ravi et al., 2000; Rao et al., 2015). In comparison with other oil meals, diet digestibility was higher with karanja cake (Nagalakshmi et al., 2011). Protein digestibility decreased with expeller karanja cake and was not improved with solvent-extracted karanja meal (Ravi et al., 2000; Singh et al., 2006; Nagalakshmi et al., 2011).
The lower DM intake and daily weight gain observed with karanja oil cake could be due to either tannin and/or trypsin inhibitors, which reduced nitrogen utilization but had no effects on rumen parameters. Daily weight gain was almost always lower with the highest levels of karanja cake whatever the treatment, except in some cases when the cake was solvent-extracted or washed (Ravi et al., 2000; Singh et al., 2006). Expeller or solvent-extracted karanja cake had a negative effect on carcass characteristics with heavier liver and kidneys, and lighter testis (Singh et al., 2006). Detoxified karanja cake had no effect on carcass characteristics or organ weight (Nagalakshmi et al., 2011; Rao et al., 2015), except for the liver that was lighter (271 vs. 325-371 g) at 15% karanja cake level (Rao et al., 2015). Blood parameters were not modified, except for urea content that was higher with expeller karanja cake (Ravi et al., 2001). Karanja cake depressed immunocompetence and had deleterious effects on the testicular function of ram lambs, probably due to the presence of the toxic compound karanjin (Dineshkumar et al., 2013; Nagalakshmi et al., 2011).
Expeller karanja cake (Ravi et al., 2000; Singh et al., 2006), and to some extent solvent-extracted karanja cake (Singh et al., 2006), are not recommended for young animals for long term feeding because they are more sensitive to the toxic compounds in the cake (Ravi et al., 2000). Washing solvent-extracted karanja cake seems to be an efficient way to remove residual karanjin. It is recommended to limit the amount of detoxified karanja cake in a concentrate at less than 18% of DM (about 10% of the total diet) when fed to young male lambs, in order to avoid reproduction and health problems (see Potential constraints above).
Goats
In growing kids (about 6 kg and 5-6 months), solvent-extracted karanja meal was fed for a long growing period (266 days) at up to 30% (replacing 45% of groundnut cake) of a concentrate fed at 200 g/d with maize forage, without marked effect on DM intake, DM digestibility and daily weight gain. At 40% of the concentrate, daily weight gain was lower (22 vs. 33-38 g/d) and DM and protein digestibilities also tended to be lower (Srivastava et al., 1990).
Karanja leaves
Karanja leaves are not liked by livestock. In Nigeria, karanja leaves were reported to be unpalatable (Wood et al., 2001). In steers, the DM digestibility of green fresh leaves and litter leaves of karanja were 37% and 34%, respectively, and were the lowest among 27 other tropical forage tree species (Lowry, 1995).