Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-05
Wuste From, Oranges
Aids Growth Of CuttIe
Citrus Product Provides
vitumins and Chemicals
~ Thomos Z. Henry

By Thomas r. Henry
Cows al over the country now are
being raised and fattened on oranges.
It would be somewhat more accurate
TO say that they are eating thousands
Of tons Of mixtures Of molaSses. yeasts
and carbohydrates made from the
skins and pnlps of oranges which are
d waste Of the juice-canning industry.
This constitutes between half and so
per cent Of the whole fruit as 1t comes
from the tree.
Approximately million tons of this
cattle food has been produced In Flor
ida alone during the past few years.
Many investigators have shown it to
be an excellent starch-and-Su feed
for both beef and dairy cattle. A simi-
lar product made Of dried grapefruit
peel has been shown to contain factors,
the precise nature of which still Is
unknown. which notably stimulate
milk production.
Shredded dried peel and pulp is mix
ed with molasses and yeaSts. also OBJ
tanned from the cannery residue. in
making up these cattle feeds which 60
far to replace the grains hitherto con-
sidered necessary for carrying herds
through the winter.
Source Of b Complex vitamins.
The yeast. produced by growing Q
wild. fast-growing yeast organism on
fermenting cannery press liquor, is one
Of the richest natural sources OF the
B complex of vitamins, particularly es-
sential to the well-being Of dairy cattle,
and about half of it consists Of the
essential food elements, proteins Both
yeast and alcohol are obtained in the
same chemical process. Recent chemi.
cal analyses have shown the yeast OBJ
tanned from this process 10 contain
significant amounts of the nerve vita,
min, thiamine. riboflavin. ergosterol,
NICOTINE and pantothenic acid, all now
considered necessary for the health Of
both cows and men.
Although. the orange yeast has
achieved Importance only in animal
feeds. the professors say. 1t easily can be
refined and made more palatable for
human consumption, since it Is the,
richest natural source of complete pro-
TENS. It Is q rich source Of the. factor
which prevents pellagra. 80
Since the l941-42 canning season,
when citrus molasses first was pro-
duced on q small scale. there has been
an almost explosive growth in its pro-.
duction. Besides cattle feed in itself.
this molaSses has found wide use in
grass enSilage and to increase the sugar
content Of all sorts of mixed feeds.
= -
New Use for Bitterness.
Bitterness Of grapefruit may be
turned into yellow dye for fine woods.
medicine and possibly fiavoring for
candies.
It Is due to substance called mar.
ingin, bitterer than quinine,, according
to University Of Florida chemists, which
is closely related to the nearly tasteless
yellow dye in oranges, hesperidin.
which is an important constituent of
vitamin p. lately expounded as pro-
tective substance against near lethal
radiation.
Several million pounds of this mar
ingin are contained every year in the
Florida grapefruit crop. Very little,
however, enters into the juice into
which large part Of the crop is PROF.
eSSed. -
The only other fruit in which it oc-
ours Is the shadduck, or summer orange,
almost identical with the grapefruit
In appearance but quite different in
taste. The bitter substance was first
isolated from the flowers Of shadduck
trees, native Of the highlands Of Java.
The shadduck is not raised for COM
mercial purposes in the United States.
but It's genetic characteristics are such
that it is valuable in the breeding Of
citrus crops.
Dyes for Wool and Silk.
They have succeeded. report Drs. j.
w. KesterSon and r. Hendrickson of
the Florida Agricultural Experiment
Station. in using naringin to create
yellow-red dyes which can be used for
both wool and silk, which are water
soluble and very pleasing to the eye.
Some progress has been made in
creating wood stain which has ex-
ceptional resistance to fading in strong
sunlight.
Some experiments have indicated, the
Florida chemists say. that the bitter
principle Of grapefruit is physiological
" more active than hesperidin from
oranges in q vitamin P mixture. A
special advantage Is that it is so easily
soluble.