GROWTH RESPONSES OF CHICKS AND RATS FED DIETS CONTAINING FOUR CULTIVARS OF RAW OR AUTOCLAVED FABA BEANS

Experiments were conducted with 480 male Leghorn chicks and 60 male Wistar strain rats over 21- and 35-day periods, respectively, to study the influence of heat treatment (autoclaved for 0, 15 or 30 min at 120 C) on the growth depressing factor(s) in four faba bean (Vicia faba L. var minor) cultivars (Klein-Thuringer, Diana, Hertz-Freya and Ackerperle). All diets, which were supplemented with methionine, contained 90% faba beans. Autoclaved (average of the two autoclaving times) as compared to raw faba beans in diets of chicks and rats resulted in significant (P   0.05) among chicks fed the various faba bean cultivars. Trypsin inhibitor and hemagglutinin activity levels in the various cultivars were similar. These results suggest that the levels of growth depressing factors in the four cultivars are not markedly different.