Quality and Characteristics of Malaysian Palm …

1 1 Quality and Characteristics of Malaysian Palm kernel Cakes/ExpellersCOARSE SCREEN FILTERPALM kernel OILQ uality and Characteristicsof Malaysian Palm KernelCakes/ExpellersTang Thin Sue** Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, kernel cake (PKC), sometimes referred to as palm kernel expeller(PKE), has long been known to be an important ingredient for theformulation of animal feeds (Collingwood, 1958). Though it is consideredto be excellent for ruminants, PKC is also reported to be suitable for use infeed formulations for swine, poultry and horses (Hutagulung et al., 1982;Yeong et al., 1983; Collingwood, 1958). PKC is obtained as a by-productfrom the extraction of palm kernel oil via the mechanical process.

2 Theproduction of PKC involves the grinding of palm kernels followed by screwpressing with or without an intermediary flaking and cooking the screw pressing stage, the raw palm kernel oil is diverted forclarification and the residual PKC is cooled and stored in a warehouse. Asimplified flow chart is shown in Figure 1 (Tang and Teoh, 1985). Characteristics ANDCOMPOSITIONM alaysia produced milliontonnes of PKC in 2000 from about40 crushing plants. Of this, tonnes were exported,mainly to Europe. As the cost of thesolvent extraction process is high, itis not currently used in , only PKE is produced. Besidesoils and protein, PKC also has ahigh fibre content (about 16%) anda high phosphorus to calcium ratio,PALM kernel CAKEF igure 1.

3 Mechanical extraction of palm kernel CONDITIONINGSCREW PRESSINGFILTER PRESSSTORAGE2 Palm Oil Developments 34which make it suitable as feedingredient (Collingwood, 1958).Also present are essential elementssuch as magnesium, iron and typical composition of PKC andits amino acid profile are shown inTables 1 and 2 respectively (Yeonget al., 1983).Survey of Malaysian PKCA major survey to obtain data onthe Characteristics and compositionPKC in Malaysia was carried out bySiew (1989). Seventy-eight samplesfrom 23 palm kernel crushers,Total protein (as % of PKC), consistingmostly of the following amino acid:AlanineArginineAspartic acidCystineGlutamic acid Composition (%)Source: Yeong et al.

4 (1983).TABLE 3. Quality Characteristics OFPKC SURVEYED IN 1989 ItemProperty Content by weight (%) & dirt Not detectable-collected over a period of one yearthroughout Malaysia, includingSarawak and Sabah, were analysedfor the common feed data obtained in this survey aregiven in Table results showed that PKChas a fairly high oil contentaveraging 10% (Table 3) which canbe a good source of metabolizableenergy for feed uses. The ratherwide range of oil content, , could be attributed tothe different screw pressingconditions employed in the variouscrushing plants. With improvementin pressing technology, it might beenvisaged that the oil contentwould be reduced to a slightlylower level.

5 The ranges of thecontents of the other constituentsare generally within expectation forthis product. It must be emphasizedthat no aflatoxin was detectable inall the samples in that survey. Thiswas possibly due to the lowmoisture content of the cakescoupled with proper handling andstorage conditions employed by : Siew (1989).TRADE SPECIFICATION ANDSTANDARDThe export specification for PKCstipulated by the Malaysian EdibleOil Manufacturers Association(MEOMA) is shown in Table 4. TheMalaysian Standard (MS) for PKChas additional parameter whichprovide useful information toreflect its nutritive values(Table 5).As protein and fats are the mostimportant nutrient components in a TABLE 2. AMINO ACID PROFILEOF PALM kernel CAKESTABLE 1.

6 TYPICAL CHEMICAL COMPOSITION ANDENERGY CONTENT OF PKCC onstituentsCompositionDry matter1, %91 Proximate chemical composition (as % of cakes) 1 Crude protein (N x )14 Ether extract8 Crude fibre23 Total ash6N-free extracts (by difference)49 Mineral nutrients2 Calcium, % , % , % , mg , mg , mg , mg content2 Metabolizable energy, MJ energy, Kcal kg-11 metabolizable energy, MJ metabolizable energy, Kcal kg-11 : 1 Extracted from Mustaffa et al. (1991).2 Extracted from Yeong et al (1983).3 Quality and Characteristics of Malaysian Palm kernel Cakes/ExpellersREFERENCESA MUSTAFFA, B; M ZAIRI, S andHAWARI, H (1991). Palm kernelcake in cattle feedlotting. ASEANFood J., 6(3): , J G (1958). Palmkernel meal.

7 Processed PlantProtein Foodstuffs. Academic PressInc., New York. p. , R I; MAHYUDDIN,M D and JALALUDIN, S (1982).Feeds for farm animals from the oilpalm. Proc. of the Oil Palm in theEighties (Pushparajah, P and Chew,P S eds.) . Vol. II. p. (2000). Malaysian EdibleOil Manufacturers AssociationHandbook 2000/2001. p. , W L (1989). Characteristicsand uses of Malaysian palm kernelcake. PORIM Technology No. 14 , T S and TEOH, P K (1985).Palm kernel oil extraction - theMalaysian experience. J. Amer. OilChem. Soc., 62: , S W; MUKHERJEE, T Kand HUTAGULUNG, R I (1983).The nutritive value of palm kernelcake as a feedstuff for of the National Workshop onOil Palm By-products ingredient, it is thus a commonpractice to combine these twocomponents as the Profat Contentin the trade specification of current MEOMA s specificationfor profat content is 21%.

8 Thisallows some flexibility as a productwith lower protein content could becompensated for by a higher fatcontent and MS for PKC, on the otherhand, is more stringent in that itstipulates additional parameterssuch as crude fibre, total ash andaflatoxin content to specify thequality of the product. Ether extractin the MS specification is the sameas the fat content. As fibre is anatural component in all feedingredients, its content usuallyvaries within a narrow range. Theash content measures indirectly thetotal content of trace metals andsilica, as all these will be reduced toash after carbonization andincineration. The inclusion ofTABLE 5. Malaysian STANDARD FOR PKC AS ANIMALFEEDSTUFFS MS 607:1987 (first revision)ItemPropertyPKC as is dry , % by weight, protein, % by weight, extract, % by weight, fibre, % by weight, ash, % by weight, , * *Note: * - means not detectable at 50 ng kg-1 (ppb).

9 TABLE 4. MEOMA SPECIFICATION FOR PKCP arametersSpecificationProfat*, % min. by weight21 Moisture, % max. by weight10 at time of shipmentNote: *profat = protein (N x ) + fat : MEOMA (2000).aflatoxin content helps to promoteproper storage practices tominimize fungal infestation.