Date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) by-Products: Chemical Composition, Nutritive Value and Applications in Poultry Nutrition, an Updating Review
Open Access
- 15 April 2021
- Vol. 11 (4), 1133
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11041133
Abstract
Several by-products, such as whole cull dates, date stones (also called pits, seeds, kernels), sugar-extracted date pulp, are produced from date fruit processing industries. These by-products, particularly date stone meal represent 10 to 20% of the whole dates are wasted, causing environmental issues. However, the date stone is rich in various nutrients, such as nitrogen-free extract, fiber, fat, and minerals, which could be used as an alternative feed source in poultry nutrition. However, the high fiber content in date stone meal restricts its use in poultry diets. Whole date wastes and date pulp have lower protein, fiber and fat content than those in date stone meal. Several studies have investigated the use of date stone meal and other by-products as a replacement of dietary corn and barley on feed intake, growth, feed efficiency, and nutrient utilization in poultry. The compilation of results obtained from different studies indicates that date fruit by-products, particularly date stone meal, could be incorporated up to 10% levels, replacing corn or barley grains without hampering production performance, and this could reduce the production cost. Moreover, the use of date stone meal at lower levels (5–10%) sometimes shows better growth performance, probably due to the presence of bioactive principles such as antioxidants and phenolic compounds. The use of date stone meal in poultry diets may be practically important under certain circumstances not only under the COVID-19 crisis due to the lockdown of airports, dry ports, ports and traffic restrictions, but also in countries with a limited supply of classical feed resources and which depend on imported ones. Finally, it can recommend that using date stone meal (DSM) up to 5–10% in poultry diets positively affect the productive performance. Due to the variability in the nutritive value of the DSM, developing a formula for metabolizable energy (ME) of DSM = a (intercept) − b (slope) × crude fiber (CF) content should be considered to improve the precision of feed formula for poultry. However, the nutritional value of DSM might not only depend on crude fiber but also on other compounds.Keywords
This publication has 47 references indexed in Scilit:
- In vivo comparative studies on antigenotoxicity of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera l.) pits extract against DNA damage induced by N-Nitroso-N-methylurea in miceToxicology International, 2012
- Economic Value of Date Pits Replaced with Maize in Broiler Chicken DietJournal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 2010
- Effect of Using Date By-product with Enzyme on Performance and Blood Parameter of BroilerInternational Journal of Poultry Science, 2010
- Whole inedible date in the grower–finisher broiler diets and the impact on productive performance, nutrient digestibility and meat qualityAnimal, 2010
- Estimation of metabolisable energy content of date pit and its effect on lipid and protein oxidation in broiler chicksJournal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2009
- Nutritional quality evaluation of eighteen date pit varietiesInternational Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 2009
- The Nutritive Value of Date Waste Meal as a Feedstuff for Lohmann Brown Pullets and LayersThe Journal of Poultry Science, 2009
- Nutritional and Functional Properties of Dates: A ReviewCritical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2008
- Evaluating fungi-degraded date pits as a feed ingredient for Nile tilapiaOreochromis niloticusL.Aquaculture Nutrition, 2008
- Chemical Composition and Nutritional Quality of Date SeedsJournal of Food Science, 1984