Exploring the Potentials of Banana (Musa Sapietum) Peels in Feed Formulation

Abstract

Banana is one of the most important crops of the tropical plants. It belongs to the family Musaceae and the genus Musa sapientum. It is known in English as banana and in Hausa as ayaba. The plant consists of long, overlapping leaf stalks and bears a stem which is 1.22 to 6.10 m high (Oladeji et al; It has life span of about 15 years (Philips, 1982). The fruits grow in clusters, each separate banana of the cluster being about 1 inch in diameter. Banana fruit requires about two and a half to four months after shooting before the fruit becomes ready for harvesting ora total of about eight to twelve months after planting. Banana contains high fibre content, and is capable of lowering cholesterol level and helps to relieve constipation and prevention of colon cancer. Its high potassium content is found to be useful in the prevention of raising blood pressure and muscle cramp. Various parts of the plant such as the leaves, root, fruit stalk, bract and fruit have been used for medicinal and domestic purposes. Its sap is used as a remedy for diarrhoea, dysentery, hysteria and epilepsy. A cold infusion of the root is used to treat venereal diseases and anaemia. In addition, the fruit has been reportedly used as antiscorbutic, aphrodisiac and diuretic. It is known to have originated from tropical region of Southern Asia. It is now cultivated throughout the tropical regions. Akinsoye, (1991) reported that the plant is cultivated primarily for its fruit and to a lesser extent for production of fibre. It is also believed to be an ornamental plant. The stem which is also called pseudo stem produces a single bunch of banana before dying and replaced by new pseudo stem. The fruit grows in hanging clusters, with 20 fruits to a tie and 3-20 tie to a bunch. The fruit is protected by its peel which is discarded as a waste after inner fleshy portion is eaten. Banana is said to prevent anaemia by stimulating the production of haemoglobin in the blood. Banana is one of the most common crops grown in almost all tropical countries, including Nigeria. Banana plantations occupy a very large part of the country and therefore an abundant and cheap agricultural product. Banana chip and banana fig is the main products from banana flesh produced by a number of small and medium factories located nationwide. As industrial by-products, the peels represent about30-40 g/ 100 g of fruit weight. This resulted in 200 tons of waste from banana peels generated each day and this amount tends to increase annually (Pangnakorn, 2006).The banana peels waste is normally disposed in municipal landfills, which contribute to the existing environmental problems. The problems can however be overcome by utilizing its high-added value compounds, including the dietary fibre fraction that has a great potential in the preparation of functional foods. Dietary fibre has shown beneficial effects in the prevention of several