**3.6. Silage from by-products**

## *3.6.1. Silage from fruit and vegetable co-products*

Utilization of fruit and vegetable co-products, such as grape, tomato, olive or citrus pomace that are voluminously produced and have an important impact on the environment, in the animal feed holds promise in expanding the forage biomass, thereby meeting the increasing demands of feeds and fodder. Besides the fact that fruit and vegetable co-products are good sources of phenolic constituents [12, 51] that act as natural antioxidants, and research emphasis has now been directed at use of these co-products in improving products' quality [14]. They evaluated pomegranate byproduct silage supplementation to growing lambs and found improved nutritional and functional qualities as indicated by the increase in essential FA, intramuscular fat, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity.

#### *3.6.2. Pineapple fruit residue silage*

National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology (NIANP), Bengaluru (India), has developed a silage technology to preserve pineapple fruit residue (PFR) and use it as fodder for livestock [52]. More than 70% of pineapple fruit is wasted during processing in industry, and there is potential availability of PFR to the tune of 1.35 million tonnes per year in India. PFR is high in moisture and sugars and thus can suitably preserved in the form of silage, which otherwise become a waste in processing industries. Nutritionally, PFR silage is demonstrated as a valuable fodder resource comparable to maize green fodder and increases milk yield and quality.

#### *3.6.3. Cassava silage*

Cassava (*Manihot esculenta*) is known as a highly productive tropical crop that is traditionally cultivated to produce roots for human consumption or for starch production. The yield of cassava leaves is recorded as much as 4.6 thousand tonnes of DM/ha when taken as a by-product at root harvesting. Cassava leaf silage was successfully introduced to small holder farmers in Indonesia [38]. The chemical and microbiological composition, silage preparation and the effects of LAB inoculants on silage fermentation of cassava residues including cassava leaves, peel and pulp were studied to effectively use in livestock diets [53, 54]. They found improved fermentation quality with lower pH, butyric acid and higher lactic acid when the residues were ensiled with LAB inoculants.
