The tropical tuber Manihot esculenta goes by many names, together with cassava and manioc. I first made the crop’s acquaintance as yuca in rural Honduras, the place farmers typically planted it on marginal land the place different crops wouldn’t develop nicely. Yuca resisted many pests and survived drought even in sweltering Choluteca close to Honduras’ Pacific coast. Though low in protein, cassava gives plentiful starch to gas a farmer’s day by day labor. Farmers in Central America have grown yuca for 1000’s of years after Indigenous folks unfold the crop from its homeland in what’s now Brazil.
Following Spanish and Portuguese colonialism, cassava unfold to Africa and Asia. Across the tropics and subtropics, yuca is now a significant supply of carbohydrates and a few nutritional vitamins. The crop has turn into rooted in regional traditions and delicacies. Nigeria and Thailand are main producers, however Brazil stays one of many foremost growers of the crop.
Cassava fiber in pet meals
In cassava’s northern Brazilian homeland, farmers continued their historical custom of yuca farming into the current, however now large plantations additionally develop the crop. Nonetheless, after processing their harvests, these plantations have been left with fiber that appeared to have few makes use of. Scientists with pet meals ingredient provider Kemin researched makes use of for manioc co-products.
Cassava fiber may doubtlessly be used as a fiber supply in pet food and cat meals, Carlos Bacal, Kemin’s technical service supervisor, informed Petfood Trade. Cassava fiber was secure with inclusion of as much as 12%.
“The cassava fiber used within the examine is a co-product of cassava processing by giant factories to fabricate starch for human consumption,” Bacal stated. “With out the opportunity of reuse, this materials would characterize an awesome problem as a pollutant that’s troublesome to deal with and eliminate.”
“The cassava fiber was nearer to the beet pulp in some parameters and in others to microcrystalline cellulose, all the time to extend the advantages or to cut back undesirable elements.
“The big database of the research instructed that the cassava fiber has a possible to compensate the inclusion of beet pulp or microcrystalline cellulose,” he stated. “Two type of fibers which aren’t produced in sustainable scale in Brazil. The potential of import substitution may convey financial and environmental advantages to the nation.”
