 | Abstract 365Variation in metabolizable energy content of raw or autoclaved white and brown varieties of three tropical grain legumes.Nwokolo,-E; Oji,-UI Rivers State Univ. Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Animal-Feed-Science-and-Technology. 1985, 13: 1/2, 141-146; 19 ref. White and brown varieties of 3 tropical grain legumes: pigeon pea, African yam bean and cowpea, were studied using soyabean meal as control. Raw or autoclaved (2.109 kg/cm2 for 30 min) samples of test legumes were analysed for proximate constituents and evaluated for metabolizable energy with 3-week-old Hubbard chickens. Test legumes were included at 25% in the diets. Metabolizable energy values differed (P <0.05) between grain legumes, but there were no significant differences between white and brown varieties within legume species. Autoclaved varieties had significantly higher ME values than raw varieties. In all test grains, whether raw or autoclaved, the ME values obtained were higher (P <0.05) than the ME value of the soyabean meal-based control diet. It is presumed that autoclaving destroyed some antinutritional factors as well as increasing nutrient digestibility in the test grains. This abstract relates to the following species:
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