Nutrient Composition and Cell-Wall Structure of Palm Kernel Cake Supplemented with Enzymes

| This study aimed to determine the nutritional composition of palm kernel cake (PKC) and its cell-wall structure. PKC with and without shells samples were used to study the chemical composition of PKC, and PKC with and without enzymes were used to investigate cell-wall structure. The enzymes consisted of mannanase (182 g/ tons), nonstarch polysaccharide degrading enzyme (200 g/tons), and protease (130 g/tons). The chemical composition included dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ash, ether extract (EE), nitrogen-free extract (NFE), crude fiber (CF), total energy, amino acids (AAs), and fatty acids (FAs). In this study, the chemical composition was analyzed T - test student, while AAs, FAs, and cell-wall structure was analyzed descriptively. The microstructure of PKC cell wall after in vitro digestibility was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The PKC with shell contained the following: 4,417.81 Kcal/kg gross energy, 95.45 DM, 4.51 ash, 15.95 CP, 8.36 EE, 21.21 CF, 49.78 NFE, 0.55 lysine, 0.09 methionine, and 47 lauric acid (LA). The PKC without shell had the following: gross energy of 4,555.43 Kcal/kg, 97.84 DM, 4.26 ash, 22.33 CP, 9.29 EE, 15.43 CF, 50.29 NFE, 0.62 lysine, 0.14 methionine, and 49 LA. The PKC without enzyme addition showed a whole and smooth cell-wall structure, and that of PKC with enzyme was looser, coarser, and more porous. In conclusion, PKC without shells had higher chemical components, AA, and FA than the PKC with shell. The results on the cell-wall structure of PKC with enzyme showed that enzymes could loosen the cell-wall bonds of PKC. © 2024 by the authors. Licensee ResearchersLinks Ltd, England, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). All Rights Reserved.