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Crab meal

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: This datasheet is pending revision and updating; its contents are currently derived from FAO's Animal Feed Resources Information System (1991-2002) and from Bo Göhl's Tropical Feeds (1976-1982).

Datasheet

Description
Click on the "Nutritional aspects" tab for recommendations for ruminants, pigs, poultry, rabbits, horses, fish and crustaceans
Common names 

Crab meal, crab waste

Related feed(s) 
Description 

Shell portion of the crab after the edible meat portion has been removed is then dried and ground and the resultant product is referred to as crab meal.

Nutritional aspects
Nutritional attributes 

Crab shells are high in chitin, which is a nitrogen containing compound that has a structure similar to cellulose, but is not digested by cellulase. The chitin is crab shell was found to be more digestible than the practical chemical grade of chitin (Ayangbile et al., 1988). Considerable variation exists between crab meals (Abou-Raya et al., 1971). Crab meal contains carotenoid pigments, which when will produce the characteristic salmon color associated with fish, such as salmon and trout (Patton et al., 1975).

Potential constraints 

The lipids associated with crab are highly unsaturated and if consumed by monogastric animals, these lipids can transferred to the tissues and may cause off-flavors to occur. The level of lipids contained in the crab meal will be related to the build-up of these lipids in the tissues, which may cause off flavors to build-up in the tissues of monogastric animals. Further processing (smoking, curing, etc.) of meats containing these unsaturated lipids can exhaurate these off-flavors.

Ruminants 

When up to 20 % of crab meal was fed to calves no differences in gain, feed intake or feed efficiency were observed (Patton et al., 1975).

In ruminant animals, crab meal was tested in both growing and lactating cattle. Concentrate mixtures containing up to 30% of crab meal that was fed to both steers and heifers didn’t depress performance (Brundage, 1986). Decreased intake and growth was observed when crab meal was fed at 15 and 35 % levels to beef replacement heifers and calves (Laflamme, 1988). Crab meal was found to be somewhat unpalatable and as the level (12, 24, 36 %) in the diet of growing beef steers increased feed consumption declined (Nicholson et al., 1996). Only slight differences were observed when crab meal replaced soybean oil meal in lactating dairy cattle (Brundage et al., 1979). As crab meal was used to replace soybean meal in the diets of dairy cattle, milk production declined (Brundage, 1981). Crab meal when fed to dairy cattle (0, 7.5, 15, 22.5, 30%), decreased intake, with some cows completely rejecting concentrates that contained 22.5 and 30 % crab meal (Brundage et al., 1984). No off flavors in milk were observed when crab meal was fed to dairy cattle (Brundage et al., 1983). Crab meal was found to have some buffering effect (Nicholson et al., 1996).

Crude protein fraction of crab meal was found to be highly resistant to rumen degradability, with only 18 % of CP disappearing from nylon bag when placed in rumen for 24 hours. Rumen Digestible Dry Matter = 34.3 % , DCP = 69.6 % (Nicholson et al., 1996).

Pigs 

Increasing levels of crab meal caused a decrease in gains in growing swine. When crab meal was sieved and fed to swine, it was found that when the smaller crab meal particles that performance was increased as compared to feeding the larger particles (Husby, 1980).

Nutritional tables
Tables of chemical composition and nutritional value 

Avg: average or predicted value; SD: standard deviation; Min: minimum value; Max: maximum value; Nb: number of values (samples) used

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: This datasheet is pending revision and updating; its contents are currently derived from FAO's Animal Feed Resources Information System (1991-2002) and from Bo Göhl's Tropical Feeds (1976-1982).

Main analysis Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Dry matter % as fed 92.7 1
Crude protein % DM 26.3 8.1 17.1 36.6 4
ADF % DM 13.3 1
Ether extract % DM 2.4 4.0 0.1 7.0 3
Ash % DM 51.9 8.0 45.1 62.3 4
Gross energy MJ/kg DM 15.0 *
 
Minerals Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Calcium g/kg DM 175.1 42.0 130.0 225.5 4
Phosphorus g/kg DM 14.8 1.1 13.3 15.7 4
Magnesium g/kg DM 7.8 1

The asterisk * indicates that the average value was obtained by an equation.

References

CIRAD, 1991; Velez et al., 1991

Last updated on 24/10/2012 00:45:32

Main analysis Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Dry matter % as fed 37.5 1
Crude protein % DM 32.3 1
ADF % DM 22.8 1
 
Minerals Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Calcium g/kg DM 142.0 1
Phosphorus g/kg DM 11.0 1

The asterisk * indicates that the average value was obtained by an equation.

References

Evers et al., 1996

Last updated on 24/10/2012 00:45:32

Main analysis Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Dry matter % as fed 90.5 1
Crude protein % DM 24.6 1
Crude fibre % DM 11.3 1
Ether extract % DM 1.6 1
Ash % DM 56.5 1
Gross energy MJ/kg DM 9.1 *
 
Minerals Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Calcium g/kg DM 238.7 1
Phosphorus g/kg DM 15.2 1
Potassium g/kg DM 4.2 1
Magnesium g/kg DM 18.3 1
 
Pig nutritive values Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Energy digestibility, growing pig % 72.3 *
DE growing pig MJ/kg DM 6.6 *

The asterisk * indicates that the average value was obtained by an equation.

References

CIRAD, 1991

Last updated on 24/10/2012 00:45:32

References
References 
Datasheet citation 

DATASHEET UNDER CONSTRUCTION. DO NOT QUOTE. https://www.feedipedia.org/node/664 Last updated on July 14, 2010, 11:47

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