Chemical composition and livestock ingestion of carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) seeds

Abstract

Pods and seeds from carob Ceratonia siliqua L. trees growing in Ajloun Mountainous forests and rangelands in Jordan were analyzed for their proximate analysis, Ca and P contents, and also the effects of ingestion of seeds by sheep and goat on the germination were investigated. Carob seed has hard seed coat dormancy, and seed scarification increased germination from 10.2% in non-scarified to 85.4% after scarification. Germination percentages for seeds that were ingested by sheep were 73.5, 61.8, 39.3, and 0.0% for ingestion periods of 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours, respectively; whereas, it was 56.8, 79.9, 50.1, 13.7, and 1.1% for seeds dispersed from goat after 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours. Carob seeds contained higher amounts of protein, fiber, fat and Ca than deseeded pods. However, the latter contained more carbohydrates and P than seeds. Carob pods and seeds contained sufficient crude protein and energy to meet the maintenance and lactation requirements of ewes, but Ca and P contents were not adequate by themselves.