Chemical composition and livestock ingestion of carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) seeds

Pods and seeds from carob Ceratonia siliqua L. trees growing in Ajloun Moun tainous forests and rangelands in Jordan were analyzed for their proximate analysis, Ca and P contents, and also the effects of ingestion of seeds by sheep and goat on the germination were investigated. Carob seed has hard se ed coat dormancy, and seed scarification increased germination from 10.2% i n non-scarified to 85.4% after scarification. Germination percentages for s eeds that were ingested by sheep were 73.5, 61.8, 39.3, and 0.0% for ingest ion periods of 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours, respectively; whereas, it was 56.8 , 79.9, 50.1, 13.7, and 1.1 % for seeds dispersed from goat after 24, 48, 7 2, 96, and 120 hours. Carob seeds contained higher amounts of protein, fibe r, fat and Ca. than deseeded pods. However, the latter contained more carbo hydrates and P than seeds. Carob pods and seeds contained sufficient crude protein and energy to meet the maintenance and lactation requirements of ew es, but Ca and P contents were not adequate by themselves.