Proximate Composition and Mineral Profile of Some Agro-Allied By-Products Wastes in the Kingdom of Lesotho

The study was carried out to investigate the feed value of four agro-allied by-products consisting of two tubers wastes namely; Irish potato peel meal (IPPM) and sweet potato peel meal (SPPM) and two fruits wastes namely, sweet orange peel meal (SOPM) and banana peel meal (BPM) as feed ingredients in livestock and poultry production in a temperate environment. Fresh fruits of banana and sweet orange and fresh tubers of Irish potato and sweet potato were purchased from the Maseru District in Lesotho. The tubers were rinsed and peeled, the peels of the fruits were removed and all the peels were separately shade-dried to attain about 10% moisture. Drying of Irish potato, sweet potato, and sweet orange peels lasted 48 hours, while for banana peels it lasted 72 hours. The peels were milled and stored in sealed plastic bottles prior to chemical analyses. Chemical analyses were carried out in triplicate to determine the proximate constituents, energy content, and mineral profile. The results revealed significant (P<0.05) differences in the proximate composition and metabolisable energy, among the peels without any sequence of variation. The dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude fibre (CF), ash, nitrogen-free extract (NFE), and metabolisable energy varied between 88.83% - 93.67%, 5.72% - 14.26%, 0.77% -7.83%, 5.67% - 11.67%, 3.50% - 15.00%, 52.33% - 70.94% and 2782.28 kcal/kg - 2834.14 kcal/kg, respectively among the peels. The mineral elements profile showed significant (P<0.05) difference among the peels in phosphorus which ranged from 0.64 g/kg - 2.49 g/kg, calcium 0.24 g/kg - 3.32 g/kg, magnesium 1.35 g/kg - 2.07 g/kg, potassium 0.77 g/kg - 64.13 g/kg, sodium 0.08 g/kg - 1.43 g/kg and chloride 0.36 g/kg - 0.68 g/kg without a definite sequence of variation among the different peels. The results obtained showed that the peels of Irish potato, sweet potato, sweet orange, and banana peel can be utilised as unconventional feed resources in poultry and livestock nutrition in Lesotho.

How to Cite: Teboho Jobo, Oluwabiyi Oluremi, 2022. "Proximate Composition and Mineral Profile of Some Agro-Allied By-Products Wastes in the Kingdom of Lesotho." Journal of Agriculture and Crops, vol. 9, pp. 114-121.