Protein quality of crude grains flours of five varieties of Vigna unguiculata in growth rats

Abstract

Thirty six Sprague-Dawley male rats of approximately 50 to 55 g live weight were used according to a random block design to evaluate the protein quality of raw grain meals of five Vigna unguiculata varieties for future non-ruminant diets. Diets were balanced according to protein and energy contents (10% CP and 17.80 MJ/kg) and as protein source five Vigna unguiculata varieties were included: INI (INIFAT-93), HAB (HABANA- 82),CUB (CUBITA-666), TRO (TROPICO-682) and VI (N) over tilde (VI (N) over tilde ALES144A). No effect of treatment was found in protein quality indices: biological value (BV%), true digestibility (TD%), net protein utilization (NPU%), utilizable protein (UP%), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and retained nitrogen ratio to consumed nitrogen (retN/conN). Neither was there an effect of treatment on the productive performance of animals, absolute weights, related to live weights or metabolic weight of liver, pancreas, thymus and thyroid. The results ranged between INLFAT-93 (BV 65.46, TD 72.73 and retN/conN 0.49) and VI (N) over tilde ALES-144A (BV 57.88, TD 68.28 and retN/conN 0.41). This demonstrated the good quality of these legume grains and the feasibility of their inclusion in non-ruminant diets.