Screening of sugarcane press mud as a potential alternative feed for livestock

Four batches of fresh sugarcane press mud (SPM), an agricultural waste were collected from the sugar mill near Bareilly city to analyse the chemical composition for exploring this unconventional feed as a suitable alternative feed in the livestock ration. A representative sample from each batch was taken and run in triplicate for the chemical composition study. It was found that the SPM on DM basis contained relatively more crude protein (18.01±0.57%) and low crude fibre (12.38±0.33%) and ash content (17.73±0.36%) than the earlier reports. Besides, it was proved as a good mineral source as it contained high level of calcium (5.90±0.27%) with excellent micro minerals status. Linoleic acid, one of the important essential fatty acid was found in the maximum percentage (34.85%) of the ether extract fraction of the SPM with others, proved its ether extract composition as equivalent to the oil of plant and marine origin. Further, mean gross energy (GE) of SPM was 4294.51±79.64 kcal/kg DM which was very close to the GE value of corn. The detailed chemical analysis of SPM revealed that it was a valuable source of both organic and inorganic nutrients and comparable to the nutrient composition of some cereal grains and by-products and appeared to be a potential alternate feed ingredient for the livestock.