Guar Meal – A Proven Nutritional Animal Feed
Guar is a legume and this is grown in large amounts in the northern plains of india. The production of guar meal has provided work to many people and also serves to eliminate the need to buy fodder for the farm animals. Thus an internal balance is created. Guar meal is used as a fodder and to feed the poultry and also the fish.
How is guar meal prepared? Guar seeds are processed to obtain guar split. During this process, the husk and germ of the guar seed are obtained as by-products. These are mixed together to form the guar meal. Further this meal goes through a toasting process at high temperature. This denatures the trypsin residue and enhances its nutritive value.
As this kind of feed is completely organic and is free of different artificial chemicals and preservatives, it forms a healthy diet for the animals.
This guar gum meal is then sterilized and packaged with utmost hygiene. This packets are dispatched to nearby farmers. The meal may also be utilized by the farmers themselves to feed the farm animals at an individual level.
Guar Meal A lot of focus is applied on the constituents of any food-article. Its nutritive value is of maximum importance. The presence of carbohydrates and proteins alone does not do the fact. Essential amino acids should be present for a meal to be completely nutritive.
- This meal is high on proteins and sugars. Arginine, Methionine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Aspartic acid and Glutamic acid are present in significant quantities at around 10%. Also both ‘O’ and ‘A’ proteins are present. Initially, soyabean meal was given to animals to fulfil the protein requirements. Soyabean is much costlier as compared to guar meal. Thus guar meal fodder and feed has partially replaced the soyabean meal.
- This meal also contains a lot of fibres including, Crude Fibres, NDF and lignin. The proportion of crude fibres is 12.7% which makes it easier to digest, thus improving the digestive system of the cows.
- Minerals like iron, potassium, sodium, magnesium, copper, phosphorous, calcium, zinc etc are present in significant amount. This meal also works as an important source of iron as it contains about 400 mg/kg of iron.
Cotton seed meal usually faces a problem of bacillus thuringiensis infestation, which produces the bacillus toxin. It can also get infested by fungi of aspergillus species which produces dangerous aflatoxins. As guar is not a favourable habitat for this micro-organisms, it is free of such harmful chemicals. Thus it can be safely fed to the animals, without the need for processing with antitoxins.
This kind of meal is slightly fluid in consistency and it can also flow freely through tubes. Thus it can be easily stored in silos for long term use.
Most of the fodders are dry husk and thus they can easily catch fire. These kind of situations harm both the farm produce and also the animals. Guar meal fodder is non-inflammable and thus provides a safer alternative.
This type of meal is not prepared by genetic modifications and thus is totally free of the possible disadvantages of the same.Guar meal can be easily combined with other fodders to compliment the nutritive values. The thickening property inherent to guar gum powder also helps it to function as a binding agent.
The benefits of this meal can be shown by the increase in the milk production by cattle. The content of fat in milk also doubles when cattle are maintained on guar meal from a long time.
