Increasing production sustainability by managing date fruit waste

Masoud Latifian¹

1) Faculty member (professor), Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Horticultural Sciences Research Institute., Temperate Fruits Research Center.

IOI Code : XGKE-KFHZA
Publication : Green Management of Wastes and Biotechnology(gmbtuma.ir)
Abstract :
    Date fruits are very important in human nutrition due to their rich content of essential nutrients including carbohydrates, salts and minerals, dietary fiber, vitamins, fatty acids, amino acids and protein. Estimates show that about 20% of the date product in the country is not directly absorbed by the consumer market and is classified as waste or 2nd and 3rd grade dates. Types of date fruit waste include microbial waste, mechanical waste and physiological waste. Date extract with different concentrations of 16, 18 and 20% of solid date solution produces 56.4%, 61.5% and 63.1% of ethanol, respectively. Date juice is a mixture of date syrup and water so that the dissolved solids in it are 18-20 degrees Brix, and after distilling the 3rd degree waste, date fruit is obtained. About 80 liters of vinegar can be obtained from 15 kg of dates. Date kernel powder is used in the preparation of animal feed, date kernel oil, edible fiber and herbal tea. Date kernel has 7.7 to 12.7 percent oil, which makes up 10-15 percent of the date s weight. Date kernel contains 73.1% dietary fiber on average. One of the sustainable waste management strategies is to recycle or treat waste to produce value-added products from date fruit, which reduces its production cost and minimizes environmental pollution. Every day, thousands of tons of date waste are thrown away by date processing industries, which leads to environmental problems. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find suitable uses for these wastes.

Keywords : date palm kernel waste productivity employment