Nutritional Value of Fruit and Vegetable Residues

Cohn and Cohn (1996) reported 20-30 per cent dry matter in apple pomace. Citrus pulp consists of 60-65, peel, 30-35, pulp and 0-10% seeds. The dry matter content of citrus pulp has been found to be 19.7 % (Pascual and Carmona 1980). Scerra et al. (2001) found that dry matter content of ensiled citrus pulp was 26.64 per cent. Mekasha et al. (2002) reported that dry matter content of orange and banana peels was 28.1 and 10.0 percent, respectively.

Chakraborti et al. (1988) observed that the different types of vegetable refuse are largely available in our country which may be used as good animal feed because they contain fairly sufficient of crude protein. Generally vegetable residues are rich in calcium but poor in phosphorus. Gasa et al. (1989) suggested that the botanic origin, agro climatic condition, growth stage and part of the plant represented by each by-product and the prevalent conditions during industrial processing are the reasons that can cause variation in composition.

Mekasha et al. (2002) reported that dry matter content of cabbage waste was 14.0 per cent. The dry matter content of vegetable residues ranged from 7.6 per cent in pumpkins (FAO, 1975) to 26.5 per cent in pea pods (Gasa et al., 1989) and ensiled pea pods contained 28.8 %DM (Gasa et al., 1989). Dried cauliflower, pea pods and okra contained 96.2 (FAO, 1975), 87.1 (Khattab al., 2000) and 87.5% (FAO, 1975) of DM respectively.  Khan and Atreja (2001) reported the dry matter content of vegetable residues ranging from 7.10 (cabbage and cauliflower) to 13.34 % (pea pods).

Mekasha et al. (2002) reported that the CP content of orange and banana peel was 14.4 and 5.8 per cent, respectively. The CP percentage of dried citrus peel was reported as 6.50 % by Cohn and Cohn, 1996. Thakur and Bhatia (1985) reported that the crude protein content varied from 10.13 (carrot leaves) to 15.32 per cent (radish leaves). The CP was7.4 % in carrots  (Gupta et al., 1985) and 25.0 per cent in cauliflower leaves (FAO, 1975) But it was also reported that the carrots on fresh basis contained 12.7 % CP (FAO, 1975). The okra, pea pods and cabbage residues are the moderate to good sources of CP (15.8, 16.1 and 20.3 %) respectively. The crude protein content varied from 6.78 (carrot) to 22.40% (cauliflower) as reported by Khan and Atreja 2001. Mandal and Chakraborti (1993) reported that okra residue contained 20.75 % CP on fresh basis. The CP content of cabbage waste was 14.4 per cent as reported by (Mekasha et al., 2002).

Mekasha et al. (2002) reported that ether extract content of orange and banana peel was 1.60 and 6.08 per cent. The average ether extract content of dried citrus peel was found 4.7 % (Cohn and Cohn, 1996). The ether extract content was 1.68, 2.95 and 3.46 per cent in leaves of radish, carrot and cauliflower, respectively (Thakur and Bhatia, 1985). The ether extract content ranged from 0.96 per cent in carrot (Gupta et al., 1985) to 9.8 per cent in okra residues (Khan and Atreja 2001). It was 5.8 % in pea pods (Khattab et al., 2000), 7.1% in dried cauliflower and 9.8 % in okra (FAO, 1975) on dry matter basis. Mekasha et al. (2002) found the ether extract content of cabbage waste was 1.50 per cent.

Cohn and Cohn (1996) reported that dried citrus peel contained 13.4 per cent crude fibre. Thakur and Bhatia (1985) reported that crude fibre content ranged from 12.07 (Radish leaves) to 14.78 % (cauliflower leaves). Okra residues contained 34.50 % of CF (Khan and Atreja 2001) whereas in carrots it ranged from 8.4  (Khan and Atreja 2001) to 16.3 % (Gupta et al., 1985). The cauliflower contained 11.9-18.9 % CF (Gupta et al., 1985, Khan and Atreja 2001). Ensiled pea pods contained 24.3 % CF (Gasa et al., 1989) whereas dried cauliflower, empty pea pods and okra residues contained 13.7   (FAO, 1975), 23.8  (Khattab et al, 2000) and 26.9 % (FAO, 1975) of CF, respectively.

Cohn and Cohn (1996) reported 6.6 per cent ash in dried citrus peel. The ash content of radish, carrot and cauliflower leaves was 26.84, 14.83 and 12.13 per cent (Thakur and Bhatia, 1985). On fresh basis okra contained 11.0% whereas dried okra contained 8.1 % ash (FAO, 1975). In carrot the ash content varied between 6.1  (Gupta et al., 1985) and 8.2% (FAO, 1975). Spinach, pumpkin and pea pods contained 7.2, 7.9 and 6.6% of ash respectively. Cabbage and cauliflower had the high level of total ash. Cabbage contained 15.1  (Chakraborti et al., 1988) to 27.3% (FAO, 1975) of total ash. Whereas the ash level in cauliflower residues ranged from 8.6  (Chakraborti et al., 1988) to 16.7% (Gupta et al., 1985). The ash content of vegetable residues ranged from 3.90 (pumpkins) to 14.65% (cauliflower) as reported by (Khan and Atreja 2001).

Cohn and Cohn (1996) found 68.5 per cent NFE in dried citrus peel. Thakur and Bhatia (1985) reported that NFE content ranged from 44.09 (radish) to 56.49 % (carrot leaves). Nitrogen free extract of okra residues varied from 30.6  (dried) to 62.4% in (fresh) (FAO, 1975). On fresh basis carrots contained NFE in the range of 67.2   (FAO, 1975) to 74.48% (Khan and Atreja 2001). The NFE level in spinach and pumpkin residues were 21.6 % (Gupta et al., 1985) 61.8 % (FAO, 1975) respectively. Cauliflower residues are the moderate sources of NFE with a range of 38.2,  (FAO, 1975) to 45.5 % (Gupta et al., 1985) on dry matter basis. The NFE level in cabbage varied from 38.9 (FAO, 1975) to 57.84% (Khan and Atreja 2001) whereas in pea pods it ranged from 53.9  (Khattab et al., 2000) to 57.7 % (Gupta et al., 1985).