Abstract
High feed cost is a major economic concern in animal production industries, largely due to the increasing global demands for foods, feeds, and biofuels. Animal producers, especially animal nutritionists, have been searching for alternative feedstuffs to reduce the feed cost. Guar meal is the main by-product from the guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoba L.) gum industry. Although said to be unpalatable and maybe toxic, the new guar meal products, such as GuarPro F-81, possess promise to be alternatives for feeding animals, mainly because they contain great amounts of protein and carbohydrates and are inexpensive. The proximate nutrient values and amino acid profile of GuarPro F-81 have been previously reported, and this study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the mineral contents of GuarPro F-81 are comparable to that of soybean meal. Three GuarPro F-81 samples were randomly collected from a guar meal production company in India and aliquoted to 30 to 100 g/sample after arrival for analysis in four university and commercial laboratories. The results showed that GuarPro F-81 contained (as-fed basis; mean ± SD, n = 4) 0.22 ± 0.015% calcium, 0.77 ± 0.022% phosphorus, 0.40 ± 0.023% magnesium, 1.67 ± 0.079% potassium, 0.016 ± 0.012% sodium, 249 ± 42.8 ppm iron, 21.3 ± 1.78 ppm manganese, 72.8 ± 9.00 ppm zinc, and 11.5 ± 7.25 ppm copper. The sulfur content was 0.54 ± 0.177% (n = 2) and the nickel content was 5.30% (n = 1). When compared with soybean meal (dehulled, solvent extracted), the contents of iron, magnesium, zinc, sulfur, and phosphorus in GuarPro F-81 are approximately 154, 50, 49, 34, and 8% greater, respectively, while the contents of copper, potassium, calcium, manganese, and sodium are approximately 24, 25, 34, 40, and 80% less, respectively. Nonetheless, the bioavailabilities of these minerals warrant further investigation.