Palm Kernel Meal | The development of the livestock industry in Indonesia is relatively rapid. Livestock has a vital role in supporting the availability of animal protein for the Indonesian people. This is in line with the need for animal feed. In Indonesia, the need for more animal feed comes from corn. Corn was chosen as the main composition of animal feed because its risks can be measured compared to other commodities, and it has a vast market.
The Price of Animal Feed Continues to Increase, Most of Which Comes from Corn
The soaring price of animal feed has significantly impacted livestock farmers. Due to rising prices, many breeders suffer losses and even go out of business. The increase in animal feed prices cannot be separated from the phenomenon of increasing prices of corn as the primary animal feed commodity.
In response to this, the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan), through the Directorate General of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health (Ditjen PKH), immediately coordinated regarding the availability of animal feed for the livestock industry.
Quoting the official website ditjenpkh.pertanian.go.id, Director General of PKH Nasrullah said that his party had gathered relevant stakeholders to find a solution to overcome the increase in corn prices.
Corn is one of the main ingredients of animal feed. This cereal plant is a plant whose entire parts can be processed and utilized. Like grains, seeds are the main ingredient in chicken feed. Or the dried leaves and stems can be processed into animal feed.
Corn was chosen as raw material for animal feed because it contains 70% carbohydrates, 10% protein, and 5% fat. The starch content of corn plants ranges from 60-80%. This content makes corn easy to digest. Not only that, corn has a greater nutritional content than rice bran, soybeans, or pollard, and the serving process is relatively easier.
Palm Kernel Meal, Alternative to Corn as the Main Ingredient of Animal Feed
The high price of feed forces farmers to look for other sources as an alternative source of feed ingredients. The most important thing is to make the raw materials rich in protein and energy. These raw materials must also be available in the long term, cheap, and not compete with basic human needs. One potential animal feed ingredient that could be an option is palm kernel meal.
Palm kernel meal is one of the palm kernel meat processing products. This yield reaches 45% of palm kernel. Palm kernel meal contains 14-17% protein, 12-18% basic fiber and 10.5% fat. Therefore, palm kernel meal can be used as an alternative raw material for animal feed.
On cattle farms, 65% of palm kernel meal can be used as raw material for animal feed. Palm kernel meal can increase the weight of cows by up to 70 grams per head in one day.
Likewise with poultry. The low fiber content of 5 to 15% in palm kernel meal is very good for chicken digestion. Apart from that, palm kernel meal is also helpful for controlling harmful germs such as Salmonella.
Comparison of Palm Kernel Meal and Corn as Raw Materials for Animal Feed
Corn is an annual plant which is a type of single-stemmed grass. Corn plants are very popular with livestock because they fulfill their needs as an energy source. Not only that, corn is also easy to process, easy to mix with other food ingredients, and easy to make in large portions.
However, the disadvantage of corn is that it lacks protein, so it must be consumed with other protein sources such as wheat flour or forage beans.
Corn has nutritional content consisting of 86% dry matter, 6.9% fat, 4.3% aggressive fiber, 61.8% nitrogen-free extract, and 9.7% aggressive protein. Corn pollard has a nutritional content of 86% dry matter, 15.7% aggressive fiber, 51% non-nitrogen extract, and 12.9% aggressive protein.
Palm kernel meal (BIS) is a by-product of palm kernel processing with a palm kernel content of 45-46%. Palm kernel meal usually has a water content of less than 10%, and 60% of the nutritional fraction is cellulose, fat, protein, arabinoxylan, glucuronoxylan, and minerals.
Chemical processes or mechanical methods can obtain this material. Even though palm kernel meal has a low protein content, its quality is quite good, and it contains large amounts of crude fiber. Pasaribu research in 2018 stated that the nutrition in palm kernel meal consists of 14 to 17% protein content, 9.5% to 10.5% fat, and 12-63% aggressive fiber.
Currently, the government has issued a reference price for dry-shelled corn in Bappenas Regulation Number 5 of 2022 from 3,150 per kg to 4,200 per kg. With this price, the government hopes that corn farmers will get normal prices and the animal feed industry will enjoy raw materials at competitive prices. For comparison, the price of palm kernel meal in 1 kilogram packaging starts from 2,200 Rupiah.
Benefits of Palm Kernel Meal
Palm oil contains prebiotics, which are very useful for the digestive process of food in the intestine. Hanifa’s research in 2016 reported that palm kernel meal contains Mannan Oligosaccharides (MOS), which can function as a probiotic to stimulate the growth of probiotic germs so that it can indirectly control pathogenic germs in the digestive tract.
The nutritional mixture in palm kernel meal makes it a raw material for feed with quite a large amount of nutrients. This amount of nutrition can be used as energy for livestock. This has been proven in catfish in Hadijah’s 2019 research.
Let’s Switch to Using Palm Kernel Meal as an Animal Feed Ingredient
Before being used as animal feed, palm kernel meal needs to be fermented with fungi and disease germs, such as Rhizopus oligosporus, Aspergillus niger, or Eupenicillium javanicum, to reduce the value of its aggressive fiber. The fermentation process can increase the protein value of palm kernel meal and is suitable for livestock digestion. If breeders have difficulty getting these fungi and germs, breeders can use probiotics available on the market, such as SOC (Liquid Organic Supplement) from PT HCS, Tangguh Probiotics, EM4, Starbio, etc.
This fermentation process has increased the protein value of palm kernel meal from the original 14% to 23%. Not only is the nutritional content of animal feed quite large, but the price of palm kernel meal is also relatively low, and its availability is abundant. This is because Indonesia is the world’s number one palm oil-producing country. If farmers have difficulty making their own fermented palm kernel meal, now many palm kernel meals are sold in packaging according to their needs.
Makmur Amanah Sejahtera Provides Palm Kernel Meal
Seeing that the animal feed industry is increasing every year, it can be predicted that the supply of animal feed ingredients will also increase. So, there needs to be stability in feed products distributed to farmers.
Therefore, Makmur Amanah Sejahtera is here to be an innovative solution for providing cheap and high-quality raw materials for animal feed. Makmur Amanah Sejahtera is an industry that has been operating in the animal feed sector since 2020. It has been registered with the Minister of Investment and the Head of Investment Coordination in 2021 as an animal feed provider.
Here, various raw animal feed products are available with the best service that contributes to the modernization of animal feed. Makmur Amanah Sejahtera’s trade in raw animal-feed materials is already running with a capacity of 100 tons per month. Our mainstay commodity is palm kernel meal. However, not only palm oil meal, Makmur Amanah Sejahtera is also preparing to develop the supply of palm oil derivative products to meet local and international needs.