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African Journal of Pig Farming ISSN 2375-0731 Vol. 5 (9), pp. 001-004, September, 2017. Available online at 
www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals 

 

Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. 

 

 

Full Length Research Paper 

 

Fresh cocoa pod husk as an ingredient in the 

diets of growing pigs 
 

E. O. K. Oddoye1*, S. W. A. Rhule2, K. Agyente-Badu1, V. Anchirinah1 and F. Owusu Ansah1
 

 
1
Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, P. O. Box 8, New Tafo-Akim, Eastern Region, Ghana. 

2
Animal Research Institute, P. O. Box AH20, Achimota. Ghana. 

 
Accepted 28 April, 2017 

 
The growth rate, feed intake, feed to gain ratio and cost of gain of growing pigs fed diets containing 250 g kg

-1
 dry 

cocoa pod husk (control) (diet I) and 200 (diet II) or 300 (diet III) g kg
-1

 cocoa pod husk in the form of fresh (wet) cocoa 
pod husk were investigated in a feeding trial set up as a completely randomized design, at two (2) locations, with 
three (3) treatments replicated four (4) times and lasting 140 days. The variances at the two locations proved to be 
homogenous and as such data from the two (2) locations was pooled with the analysis being handled as a single-
factor design with treatment as the only factor. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between treatments for 
average daily weight gain, average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Cost of gain for 300 g kg

-1
 fresh (wet) 

cocoa pod husk treatment was, however, significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the other feeds. It was concluded that 
feeding fresh (wet) cocoa pod husk to growing pigs, up to 300 g kg

-1
 (on air-dry weight basis) of the diet had no 

deleterious effects on the pigs. 
 
Key words: Feeding trial, fresh cocoa pod husk, growing pigs, growth rate, feed to gain ratio. 

 
INTRODUCTION 

 
The use of dried cocoa pod husk (CPH) in poultry and 
livestock feeding is well documented (Barnes et al., 1985; 
Adomako et al., 1985; Donkor et al., 1991; Adomako and 
Osei- Amaning, 1996; Adomako et al., 1999; Agyente-
Badu and Oddoye, 2005). Cocoa pod husk is usually 
dried before storage and later use but the drying of the 
material has remained a challenge. The material is 
usually sun-dried. The greater part of the main harvesting 
season coincides with the rainy season, however, and 
therefore, sun-drying at this time has not been effective. 
Initially the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) 
employed a mechanical drier which operated on diesel 
fuel, for this purpose.  

The escalating cost of energy, however, made this 
method of drying uneconomical. These problems with 
drying have hampered efforts to popularize the use of 
CPH as a feed ingredient for poultry and livestock. In the 
light of the above problems, the idea of feeding the 
material in its fresh (wet) state, without drying, was  
 
 
 
*Corresponding author: E-mail: emmanuel_oddoye@yahoo. 
com. Tel: 233-24-4574200. 

 
 
 

 
therefore considered as a viable option. This study aims 

at developing rations for growing pigs using fresh (wet) 

cocoa pod husk. 
 
 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
 
Location 
 
The trial was carried out simultaneously at the Acherensua (Ashanti 
Region) and Worakese (Central Region) plantations of the Cocoa 

Research Institute of Ghana. 

 
Experimental animals, treatments and design 
 
Twelve large white growing pigs were used for the experiment at 
each plantation, and were fed for one hundred and forty (140) days, 
that is, from January 15, 2009 until June 03, 2009. All pigs were 
purchased from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and 
Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. There was an initial adjustment phase 
of ten days, from January 05, 2009 to January 14, 2009 to allow 
pigs to adjust to their new diets. Pigs were individually housed at 
each plantation. Pens were similar at each plantation and were 
constructed with cement blocks, had concrete floors with a rough 
finish and were roofed with aluminium roofing sheets. At each 
plantation, pigs were balanced for age, sex, litter and 



    

Table 1. Composition of experimental diets.   
       

     Experimental diet  

   Feed ingredient (g kg
-1

) Diet I (control) Diet II
1
 200 g kg

-1
 fresh CPH Diet III

2
 300 g kg

-1
 fresh CPH 

   Air-dry CPH 250 - - 

   Cassava Peels 300 340 505 
   Wheatbran 100 234 83.2 

   Soya cake (local)
3
 130 120 215 

   Tuna meal 100 130 170 

   Palm kernel cake 100 - - 

   Copra cake - 150 - 

   Oyster shell 13 17 17 

   Salt 2.5 3 3.57 
   Premix 1.25 1.75 1.8 

   Michochem
4
 1 1.25 1.43 

   Lysine 2.25 3 3 

   Total 1000 1000 1000 

   Calculated analysis    
   Digestible energy (MJ Kg

-1
) 9.75 11.15 11.67 

   Crude protein (g kg
-1

) 170.6 203.7 210.3 

   Lysine (g kg
-1

) 12.3 14.2 16.6 

   Methionine + Cystine (g kg
-1

) 5.2 6.2 6.8 

   Calcium (g kg
-1

) 12.1 13.0 14.5 

   Available phosphorus (g kg
-1

) 4.3 7.1 5.6 

   Cost (GH¢ metric tonne
-1

)
5
 0.301 0.300 0.32 

 
NB 
1. The fresh/wet CPH equivalent of 200 g kg

-1
 air-dry CPH is fed with the concentrate (800 g kg

-1
) at feeding time. 

2. The fresh/wet CPH equivalent of 300 g kg
-1

 air-dry CPH is fed with the concentrate (700 g kg
-1

) at feeding time. 
3. Soya cake produced locally by an expeller process. 
4. Michochem is a commercial mould fixing agent which is added to feeds at a rate of 1 kg per 1000 kg of feed. It binds mycotoxins in vivo 
preventing them from causing harm to the animals. 
5. 1GH¢ = 0.697USD as at August 31, 2009. Cost of feed includes the cost of the raw cocoa pod husk 

 
 
 
 
randomly allocated to one of three (3) treatments. Diet I, which 
served as the control, was the normal diet fed to grower pigs and 

contained 250 g kg
-1

 dry cocoa pod husk (CPH). Diet II contained 

the equivalent of 200 g kg
-1

 CPH but fed fresh (wet) and Diet III 

contained the equivalent of 300 g kg
-1

 CPH but fed fresh (wet). The 
experiment was laid out at each plantation as a completely 
randomized design with 3 treatments and 4 replicates making a 
total of 12 experimental units. 
 

 
Feeds, feeding and management 
 
Using diet I as a basis, two (2) concentrates were formulated to 
supply all nutrients in the control diet, less than what would be 

supplied by 200 g kg
-1

 air- dry CPH (diet II) and 300 g kg
-1

 air -dry 
CPH (diet III), respectively (Table 1). The CPH portion of the diet 
was fed as the equivalent of fresh CPH at feeding time. For 
example, at the start of the trials when pigs were being fed, an 

allowance of 1 kg day
-1

, 0.8 kg and 0.7 kg of concentrate, with 0.2 
and 0.3 kg equivalent of fresh CPH was fed to pigs on diet II and 
diet III, respectively. The diets were, therefore, iso-energetic and 

iso-nitrogenous. A price of GH¢ 0.10 kg
-1

 was assigned to air-dry 
cocoa pod husk based on the prevailing price of wheat bran and the 

 
 
 
 
 
nutrient content of dried cocoa pod husk relative to wheat bran as at 
the time of the feeding trials.  

Pigs were fed an allowance, equivalent to 5% of their body 
weight, once a day and water was provided ad libitum. Any feed left 
over at the beginning of the next day was weighed and subtracted 
from that which had been fed the previous day to determine feed 
intake. Feed allowance was adjusted at the end of each month after 
the pigs had been weighed. 
 

 
Data collection and analysis 
 
Feed intake was recorded daily for each pen and pooled for a 
month (28 days). This was then used in the computation of average 
daily feed intake. Similarly, weights taken at the end of every month 
were used in the computation of average daily weight gain. The 
average daily feed intake, divided by the average daily weight gain 
was calculated as the feed to gain ratio, that is, the weight of feed 
needed to produce one kilogram of gain. Similarly, the feed to gain 
ratio multiplied by the cost of a kilogram of feed was calculated as 
the cost of gain or the cost of feed needed to produce a kilogram of 
weight gain. Samples of each feed and fresh CPH were subjected 
to proximate chemical analysis (AOAC, 2000). 



  
 
 

 
Table 2. Proximate analysis of experimental diets and fresh CPH. 

 

  Diet I Diet II 200 g kg
-1

 fresh CPH Diet III 300 g kg
-1

 fresh CPH Fresh (wet) CPH 

 Dry matter (g Kg
-1

) 897 914 873 130 

 g Kg
-1

DM     
 Organic matter 888 913 877 938 

 Crude protein 205 229 263 78 

 Ether extract 35 70 40 19 

 Crude fibre 106 98 37 179 

 Nitrogen-free extract 565 553 557 565 

 Calcium 9.3 9.1 9.9 8.0 

 Phosphorus 10 11 10.5 4.1 
 

 
Table 3. Performance of pigs on experimental diets. 
 

 Diet I Diet II 200 g kg
-1

 fresh CPH Diet III 300 g kg
-1

 fresh CPH SED 

Parameter     

Average daily gain (kg day
-1

) 0.31 0.31 0.32 0.010 

Feed intake (kg day
-1

) 2.07 2.15 2.11 0.050 
Feed conversion ratio 6.69 6.63 6.69 0.066 

Cost (GH¢) 2.02a 2.01a 2.12b 0.020 
 
N.B: Means in a row with different postscripts are significantly different. SED – Standard error of the difference between two means.  
 

 
Statistical analysis 
 
The effects of the various treatments on average daily weight gain, 
average daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio and cost of gain 
were investigated using analysis of variance (GENSTAT, 2007), 
with the initial weight of pigs serving as a covariate. Variances at 
the two locations proved to be homogenous and as such data from 
the two locations was pooled and handled as a single factor model 
with treatment being the only factor and location being used as a 
block to allow the variation due to location to be accounted for 
(Steel et al., 1997). 
 

 

RESULTS 
 
The composition of experimental diets and the results of 
proximate analysis are shown in Tables 1 and 2, 
respectively. Means for the various treatments for 
average daily feed intake, average daily weight gain, feed 
to gain ratio and cost of gain are shown in Table 3. 
Dietary treatment did not significantly (p > 0.05) affect 
average daily weight gain, average daily feed intake and 
feed conversion ratio. There was, however, a significant 
difference (p < 0.05) between treatments for cost of gain. 
Diet III was significantly different (p < 0.05) from the other 
two treatments. Pigs consumed all the feed offered (both 
concentrate and fresh (wet) cocoa pod husk. 
 

 

DISCUSSION 
 
Adjusted means (adjusted for initial weight) were quite 

similar and this points to the fact that the diets were 

 
 

 

comparable. The complete consumption of fresh (wet) 
cocoa pod husks by pigs indicates that, it was palatable 
to them. Theobromine content of air-dry CPH is about 2.0 

g kg
-1

 as opposed to 10.0 g kg
-1

 in dry cocoa bean shells 

(seed testa) (Obiakor and Nwako, 1977; Oddoye, 1984). 
There have been no previous reports of theobromine 
toxicity in experiments in which air-dry CPH was fed to 
pigs and poultry. Even though it was not possible to 
measure theobromine content of the fresh pod in this 
experiment, the performance of pigs and the fact that no 
health problems were observed during the 140 days of 
the trial suggest that the pigs were not adversely affected 
by the feeding of fresh cocoa pod husk.  

The results suggest that, it may be possible to feed 
fresh cocoa pod husk at a higher level. The problem with 
this will be the high cost of the concentrate to go with the 

higher level of fresh cocoa pod husk. At 300 g kg
-1

 fresh 

CPH as fed in this trial, the high cost of the concentrate 
used reflected in significant (p < 0.05) differences in cost 
per gain with diet III being significantly (p < 0.05) more 
expensive than the other two diets. This is because as 
the quantity of fresh CPH increases, the concentrate feed 
will need to supply all other nutrients required in the 
growing pig’s diet apart from those contained in the fresh 
CPH. As CPH is not that nutritious (low metabolisable 
energy content due to high fiber content), this will require 
a concentrate with high level of nutrients (particularly 
metabolisable energy) to make up the deficit. 

There is a paucity of information on the feeding of fresh 

cocoa pod husk to pigs and it has therefore not been 

possible to compare this study to others. However, both 



 
 
 

 

Barnes et al. (1985) and Okai et al. (1985) fed air-dry 

CPH at 150, 200 and 250 g kg
-1

 of the diet and reported 
comparable results (growth rate, feed efficiency and 
carcass characteristics) with the control feed which had 
no CPH. They reported live weight gains ranging from 

0.417 - 0.56 kg day
-1

, which are much higher than that 

reported in this study (0.31 - 0.32 kg day
-1

). Both of their 
diets contained maize as the major energy source 
whereas, this study used cassava peels. There may be 
the need to increase energy content of diets in future 
work, by including some maize or vegetable oils, to attain 
a higher growth rate.  

The results of this study will be of particular interest in 
cocoa growing areas where cocoa pod husks are usually 
left on the farm to rot. Farmers could be encouraged to 
keep a few pigs for fattening, using cocoa pod husk as 
one of their feed resources, to improve their incomes and 
also to provide some animal protein in their diets. 
 

 

Conclusion 

 
In conclusion, this study has confirmed the possibility of 

feeding fresh CPH to form up to 300 g kg
-1

 (on air-dry 
weight basis) of their ration. For the most economical 

results, however, it should not form more than 200 g kg
-1

 
(on air-dry weight basis). 
 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

 

The assistance given by Mr. Dominic Owusu, Technical 
Officer, in the feeding of pigs and collection of data is 
acknowledged. This paper is published with the 
permission of the Executive Director, Cocoa Research 
Institute of Ghana. 

 
 
 
 

 
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th

 International Cocoa Research 

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