Nutrient composition and total-tract apparent digestibility of whole tomato seeds by sheep

The objective was to determine the apparent total-tract digestibility of DM, OM, CP (nitrogen × 6.25), NDF, ADF, total fatty acids, and GE of whole tomato seeds that were fed to sheep. Dried, whole tomato seeds were fed at 0, 8, 16, or 24% of the basal forage diet to wether sheep in a total fecal-collection study, and a regression approach was used to determine digestibility. Whole tomato seeds contained 30.6% CP, 21.5% ADF, and 30.6% total fatty acids (DM basis). The 0% whole tomato seed diet was fed at 1,169 g of DM/d to provide maintenance energy, and that amount of total intake was used for all diets. Apparent digestibility was 65.7% for OM, 82.4% for CP, 44.6% for NDF, 30.4% for ADF, and 71.4% for GE. The DE content of whole tomato seeds was 4.48 Mcal/kg of DM. Tomato seeds may be a good by-product feedstuff for use in ruminant diets.