Low caloric value of carobs as the possible cause of growth depression in chicks

Abstract

Five trials were conducted to elucidate the cause of the growth-inhibitory effect of carob meal in chick rations, with special emphasis on estimating its productive energy value. The growth-depressing factor of carob meal could not be extracted with methanol, ethanol or ethyl acetate. Consecutive extractions with cold and hot water left a residue which did not affect growth. The cold-water extract had a slight, and the hot water extract a distinct, inhibitory effect on feed consumption, without affecting feed utilisation. This reduced feed intake may be due to the presence of tannin-like compounds, which seem to affect appetite.Supplementation of diets containing carob with fat resulted in growth similar to that of the control. The data presented indicate that carobs do not contain any toxic factors and that their low caloric value is the major factor responsible for growth depression. The energy value of carobs should be calculated on the basis of their sugar content as the only nutrient available to the chicks.

Analytical approach and effects of condensed tannins in carob pods (Ceratonia siliqua) on feed intake, digestive and metabolic responses of kids

“…However, their inclusion in ruminants and poultry diets was eventually abundant. The presence of tannins in pods induced deleterious effects on digestion, growth and milk production (Volcani and Rodrig, 1961;Alumot et al, 1964), in consistency with more recent research showing that condensed tannins in pods negatively affected feed utilization and growth in lambs (Priolo et al, 2000(Priolo et al, , 2002.…”

Effects of carob ( Ceratonia siliqua ) pod byproduct on quail performance, egg characteristics, fatty acids, and cholesterol levels

“…There were no significant differences among the treated groups with regard to feed intake. The carob byproduct contains high levels of tannins (Alumot et al, 2006;Karabulut et al, 2006), which can reduce feed intake and body weight of goat kid (Silanikove et al, 2006). The sweet taste of the CB Hartel (1986).…”

Growth of Fusarium moniliforme on carob aqueous extract and nutritional evaluation of its biomass

“…The carob pods contain up to 40% (wt/wt) soluble sugars (14) in the ratio of 5:1:1:0.7 (sucrose-glucose C-fructosemaltose) (12). It has been reported in the literature (1,14,15) that the use of deseeded pods is limited in animal feeding because of the adverse effect on animal growth caused by the high tannin content. In a recent study (5) it was demonstrated that Fusarium moniliforme grown on a glucose medium has given protein levels and an amino acid pattern which are competitive with those recorded for other microfungi (13).…”