Physiological response in rats consuming crude cowpea, Vigna unguiculata, grains as substitute for commercial soybean cake: Blood indices

Abstract

Thirty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats of 100 +/- 5 g of liveweight were selected according to a random block designl with three replications. There were six rats per treatment. The experiment was conducted to study the effect of consuming Vigna unguiculata (INIFAT-93 variety) crude grain meals as substitute for commercial soybean cake on the performance of blood protein indices. Five levels of substitution (20, 40, 60, 90 and 100%) were used in a basal diet of soybean-maize. There were no differences due to the treatment effect on the hemoglobin (11b) hematoerits (111), differential count of leukocytes, serum concentration of albumen and cholesterol and alanine amino transferase activity (ALAT). All were reported within the normal ranges of good health. However, there was a decline in the serum concentrations of total proteins (from 6.7 to 6 g/dl,) and their globulin fraction (from 2.8 to 2.4 g/dL) above the 80% substiution of soyabean by cowpea, which could be due to a decline in the protein quality of the diet. It is concluded that it is physiologically possible to substitute the commercial soybean cake by crude cowpea grain meals up to 60% without affecting the blood indices of the state of protein repletion of the animals.