Dehydrated citrus pulp alters feedlot performance of crossbred heifers during the receiving period and modulates serum metabolite concentrations before and after an endotoxin challenge

Influence of Replacement Levels of Orange Waste Silage on Intake, Nutrient Digestion, Ruminal Fermentation and Milk Yield in Barki Goats

Exploring new alternative sources of feedstuffs can contribute to animal production sustainability in some Mediterranean regions in order to overcome the rising food demand. The influence of dietary replacement of wheat straw (WS) with orange waste silage (OWS) on nutrient intakes, apparent digestibility, ruminal fermentation and blood biochemical constituents and milk production of dairy goats were evaluated. Forty pregnant goats (46.30±1.6 kg BW) were housed in individual pens in a completely randomized design and fed (ad libitum) a TMR for 75 days period. Goats were assigned to four experimental diets with the forage amounts consisting of either WS as a control diet (1000 g WS/kg DM in the TMR), a 50:50 mixture of both WS and OWS (500 g WS and 500 g OWS/kg DM in the TMR), an orange waste silage (1000 g OWS/kg DM in the TMR) or corn silage as a positive control (1000 g CS/kg DM in the TMR). The DMI increased linearly (P<0.01), while fiber fractions intake decreased linearly (P<0.01) with increasing of OWS in the diet. Ruminal pH was increased quadratically (P<0.01), whereas NH3-N concentration and total protozoa abundance decreased quadratically (P<0.01) with increasing OWS in the diet. Ruminal acetate content was increased linearly (P = 0.012) by diet; whereas linear effects were observed on propionate and butyrate proportions (P<0.01) as OWS amount increased. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN), non-esterified free fatty acids (NEFA) and β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) levels decreased linearly (P<0.01) with ascending amounts of OWS. Serum glucose, BUN, NEFA and BHBA levels were lower (P<0.01) for goats fed the OWS diet than those fed the CS diet. Milk yield and milk nitrogen efficiency were linearly increased (P<0.01), whereas quadratic effects (P = 0.049) were observed on milk urea nitrogen content with increasing dietary OWS. In conclusion, the replacement of WS with OWS enhanced rumen fermentation and milk yield of late pregnant and early lactation Barki goats.

Replacing corn with ground or pelleted citrus pulp in diets of Nellore heifers

SUMMARY Citrus pulp can replace corn in feedlot diets in order to decrease metabolic problems by reducing formation of lactate ruminal. However, while eating, animals can easily select against pelleted citrus pulp due to the greater particle size of the pellet. Therefore, grinding citrus pulp pellet can be an alternative to decrease particle selectivity. This study was realized to evaluate the replacement of ground corn by pelleted citrus pulp and ground citrus pulp on animal performance, sorting index, and feeding behavior of Nellore heifers. Thirty-six Nellore heifers were randomly assigned to three treatments: control diet based on ground corn (GC), partial replacement of GC by ground citrus pulp (GCP), and partial replacement of GC by pelleted citrus pulp (PCP). . Heifers fed with the GC diet had higher final body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), and dry matter intake (DMI) compared with heifers fed with citrus pulp (P < 0.05). Ground citrus pulp increased DMI and fiber intake compared with the PCP group (P < 0.05). Heifers fed with PCP and GCP sorted for diet particles from 8 to 19 mm and selected particles with less than 1.18 mm (P < 0.05). Thus, the ground citrus pulp is better than pelleted citrus pulp due to higher feed intake and ADG, in consequence of lower selection index.

Citrus and Winery Wastes: Promising Dietary Supplements for Sustainable Ruminant Animal Nutrition, Health, Production, and Meat Quality

Citrus and grapes are the most widely grown fruits globally, with one-third of total production used for juice and wine making. The juice and winemaking processes generate large quantities of solid organic wastes including citrus pulp and grape pomace. These fruit wastes pose serious economic, environmental, and social challenges, especially in low-to-middle-income countries due to financial, technological, and infrastructural limitations. They are, however, rich in valuable compounds which can be utilized in the ruminant livestock industry as novel, economical, and natural sources of cellulose, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and phytochemicals, which have nutritional, anthelmintic, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties. Despite citrus and grape fruit wastes having such potential, they remain underexploited by the livestock industry in low-to-middle-income countries owing to lack of finance, skills, technology, and infrastructure. Inclusion of these fruit wastes in ruminant diets could combine the desirable effects of enhancing animal nutrition, health, welfare, production, and meat quality attributes with the prevention of challenges associated with their disposal into the environment. The current review explores the valorization potential of citrus and winery wastes as dietary supplements to sustainably enhance ruminant animal nutrition, health, welfare, production, and meat quality.

Effects of feeding different levels of dried orange pulp and recycled poultry bedding on the performance of fattening lambs

The effects of dietary feeding different levels of recycled poultry bedding (RPB) and dried orange pulp (DOP) on the performance of fattening Shal lambs (initial BW of 28 ± 2.2 kg) were assessed using a factorial experiment (2 × 3) with a completely randomized design. Six diets, containing different levels of RPB (0 or 160 g/kg of DM) and DOP (0, 110, or 220 g/kg of DM), were randomly assigned to 6 groups of 6 lambs each for a 74-d period (14 d for adaptation and 60 d for data collection). Diets were offered as total mixed ration to ensure 10% of orts. Feed intake, growth, diet digestibility, microbial nitrogen (N) synthesis (MNS), N retention, rumen fermentation parameters, and blood metabolites were determined. Data were analyzed using the PROC MIXED of SAS. Increasing RPB and DOP levels in the diet of the lambs improved ( < 0.05) DMI, ADG, and G:F. Diet digestibility was not affected by dietary feeding of RPB ( > 0.05), but increased as DOP level increased in the diet ( < 0.05). Feeding RPB and DOP had no effects ( > 0.05) on the ruminal pH. The ruminal total VFA concentration, molar proportion of acetic acid, and acetate-to-propionate ratio increased ( < 0.05) with the increasing dietary levels of RPB and DOP, while ammonia N concentration, propionic acid proportion, total protozoa count, and subfamily number decreased ( < 0.05). Including RPB and DOP in diet enhanced ( < 0.05) MNS and N retention. Feeding RPB-containing diets caused ( < 0.05) an increase of plasma glucose concentration and decreases ( < 0.05) of cholesterol and urea N. As the dietary level of DOP increased, the plasma concentrations of glucose, triglycerides, and urea N reduced ( < 0.05). The plasma antioxidant power was not affected ( > 0.05) by feeding RPB, but increased ( < 0.05) with increasing DOP level in diet. The animal performance reached its greatest value with simultaneous feeding of 160 g of RPB and 220 g of DOP per kg of diet DM. It has been concluded that the partial dietary substitution of RPB (instead of soybean meal, wheat bran, and sugar beet pulp) or/and DOP (instead of barley grain and corn grain) in fattening Shal lambs had positive effects on feed intake, diet digestibility, ruminal microbial N, growth, and N retention. Synchronized feeding of the great levels of RPB (as an N source) and DOP (as an energy source) increased utilization efficiency of these byproducts in the fattening lambs.