Shellsfree from dust, whole%fine meal%whole and dusty%Moisture9·086·509·95Albumen13·5614·1312·69Albumen digestible6·067·074·38Fat2·656·763·96Raw fibre29·1425·8021·55Ash6·326·447·26Non-nitrogenous extractive39·2540·3744·59
Feeding experiments which were carried out in certain agricultural institutes showed that the cacao husk stands in nutritive value between good meadow hay and wheaten bran, and is not only a fattening fodder for oxen, but also a valuable feeding material for cows and deer103. These results have been confirmed by Prof. Feruccio Faelli in Turin104.
The advantages of cacao shells as fodder, when a comparison with bran is established, are at once apparent. Two hundredweight (that is to say, about 220 lbs. averdupois) cost only from six to seven shillings, whilst the price of bran varies between nine and ten shillings. The husks also keep better, for after having been stored eighteen months, Professor Faelli found that they had undergone no alteration, whilst on the other hand bran had become sour. A further advantage possessed by the husk is that it will absorb fourtimes its weight of water against three times absorbed by bran. Cattle not only readily get accustomed to the fodder but subsequently take to it with eagerness. The best results were obtained with Dutch, Swiss and Parmesan milch cows. After 10 days feeding the butter and milk-sugar had increased, as well as the daily average yield of milk from 44 to 49·5 kilogrammes. As soon as the feeding with cacao husk was discontinued the yield of milk decreased. Faelli concludes that cacao husk, which can be used as a fodder up to 4 kilog. daily, exercises a very favourable influence on milch cows, and he purposes to continue the investigation with horses.
In a report on the Experimental Farms of Canada 1898, page 151, reference is made to the manurial value of the husks in enriching the soil with nitrogen and potash, a fact which had already been pointed out by Boussignault.
The future use of the husks appears therefore to be ensured, and it is to be hoped that it will allow of a permanent consumption of this by-product.