Description
Nutritive value
The content of oil is variable according to the process of extraction of oil. It is 10-12% in ghani pressed, 6-8% in expeller pressed and 0.5-0.7% in the solvent extracted cake. The protein content is variable from 40-50% and TDN 75-85%.
The groundnut cake may be decorticated or undecorticated. In undecorticated groundnut cake the fibre content is very high. It is deficient in lysine, methionine, cystine, tryptophan and also low in calcium, carotene and vitamin D.
Peanut meal is the by-product obtained after the extraction of oil from peanut seeds (also called peanuts) (Arachis hypogaeaL.). It is a protein-rich ingredient that is widely used to feed all classes of livestock. Peanut meal is the sixth most common oil meal ingredient produced in the world after soybean meal, rapeseed meal, sunflower meal, cottonseed meal and palm kernel meal. Peanut meal is generally considered as an excellent feed ingredient due to its high protein content, low fibre, high oil (for expeller meal) and relative absence of antinutritional factors.
It is often the default high protein source in regions where soybean meal is too expensive or not available. However, aflatoxin contamination remains a serious issue, particularly for peanut meal produced from seeds grown in smallholder systems (see Potential constraints on the “Nutritional aspects” tab). After the aflatoxin crises in the 1960-1970s, exports to developed countries nearly stopped and the product is now mostly used in the countries
