Ionizing Radiation of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Peels Influences on in Vitro Gas Production and Dry Matter Digestibility

The effect of irradiation on pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) peel (PP) was evaluated. Irradiation had no effect on chemical composition of PP. The results showed that gamma and electron beam (EB) irradiation significantly decreased (P 0.01) condensed tannin as compared to untreated PP. The effects of irradiation on gas production potential (b) and gas production constant rate (r) were not significant (P 0.05). The effect of irradiation on in vitro dry matter digestibility at doses of 10 and 15 kGy EB was not significant (P 0.05). Irradiation also had no effect on in vitro organic matter digestibility (P 0.05). Irradiation did not change (P 0.05) partitioning factor, gas volume at 24 hour and metabolizable energy. This study showed that ionizing radiation processing can be used as an efficient method in eliminates anti-nutritional factors without any adverse effects on nutritional value of pomegranate peel compared to other methods.