Production, use and nutritive value of fruit wastes as feed in and around the city of West Arsi Zone and Sidama Regional State.

The study was carried out to evaluate the availability, use as livestock feed and nutritional value of fruit waste in a few chosen urban (within) and peri-urban (around) areas of West Arsi and Sidama Regional State, Ethiopia. The study areas were chosen using a muti-stage purposive sampling technique and 306 respondents in total-102 from each of Shashemene, Hawassa and Yirgalem-were randomly chosen and interviewed. We used established methodology to examine the nutritional values of six (avocado seed, avocado peel with pulp, papaya pomace, mango, pineapple and banana peels) commonly used fruit waste (FBPs) samples for chemical composition and digestibility analysis. Chi-square was used to examine qualitative results while two-way analyses of variance were used for quantitative factors. Avocado, banana, mango, papaya and pineapple waste were the major useable FBPs for feeding livestock. These wastes were fed to livestock after chopping and wilting without mixing to other feeds. Perishability, health concern, shortage of storage facilities and knowledge were the major limitations whereas low price, high demands, good quality, palatability, use as a source of income and reduction in environmental pollution were the major opportunities for feeding livestock. The range of crude protein (CP) contents were from 5.49 to 19.51 % where papaya pomace contained the highest (p < 0.05) CP content while avocado seed were the lowest (p < 0.05) in CP content. The content of neutral detergent fiber was <45 %, except pineapple peels. The range of acid detergent fiber and acid detergent lignin contents were from 11.23 to 24.29 % and 1.69-13.54 %, respectively. The mean in-vitro dry matter digestibility was within the range of 70.67-88.17 %. In conclusion, the year round production and good nutritive value of fruit wastes make them a choice feed as a source of protein and energy in the study areas. We recommend animal performance evaluation and quantification of these wastes for further use by livestock.