Glossary > Feed Ingredients > PALM KERNEL

Palm oil milling is a major industry in countries in SE Asia. The industry, besides producing palm oil, also produces by-products usable as animal feed. These are palm kernel cake, palm oil sludge (POS) and palm pressed fibre (PPF). The most useful is palm kernel cake, which is the solid residue left behind after the extraction of oil from the kernels of the palm fruits. It is now well entrenched as a major feed ingredient in beef and dairy feed in theese producing countries.

The palm kernel cake is obtained out from two stages of oil extraction from the palm fruit. The first stage is the primary extraction of palm oil from the pericarp portion of the fruit, which also produces the kernel and by-products palm oil sludge and palm pressed fibre.  The extraction of oil from crushed kernel then results in the production of palm kernel cake as by-product. Two methods are used for the extraction of oil from the crushed kernels. These are the conventional mechanical screwpress method that results in the expeller pressed palm kernel cake and the solvent (usually hexane) extraction method that results in the solvent extracted type.

Although palm kernel cake supplies both protein and energy, it is looked upon more as a source of protein. palm kernel cake by itself is a medium grade protein feed and with its high fibre content it is often consider as suitable for feeding of ruminants. palm kernel cake was ranked a little higher than copra cake but lower than fish meal and groundnut cake especially in its protein value.

Suitability of palm kernel cake as feed for cattle has been much proven. Invariably, it has become the basic feed in most rations for fattening cattle in feedlots in SE Asia. It is also the primary constituent supplementary feed for dairy cattle, mixed together with other ingredients such as ground maize and soybean meal.

PKC is a reasonably good economic feed for cattle, both for fattening and supplementary feeding. It is an agro-industrial by-product that is being produced locally and within the Southeast Asian region in sizeable quantity and should thus be exploited fully.