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Some effects of fibre and starch on the determination of protein quality
Author(s) -
Eyre Michael D.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740360104
Subject(s) - starch , excretion , dry matter , feces , food science , cellulose , chemistry , zoology , potato starch , urine , polysaccharide , biology , biochemistry , paleontology
An assessment was carried out of the effects of an increase in the amount of fibre, as cellulose, and of a replacement of maize starch by potato starch in diets containing egg albumen as the sole protein, on the determination of true digestibility (TD) and biological value (BV). An increase in the fibre content of the diet at the expense of maize starch led to a rise in both fascal and urinary N excretion, with diets containing either 20 or 80 g egg albumen kg −1 . However, the response of the rats to increasing fibre concentration in the diet was different for the two levels of protein probably due to differences in dry matter intake (DMI). It was found that the conventional method of estimating metabolic faecal nitrogen (MFN) was not adequate for diets of decreasing digestibility; TD decreased by 0.35% for a rise of 1% cellulose in the diet. A more accurate method of estimating MFN was derived from a relationship between the N in the faeces and the digestibility of the diet. The increase in urinary N excretion led to a decrease of 0.41% in BV for a 1% rise in the cellulose concentration of the diet. It appears, therefore, that the ratio of digestible to indigestible matter in the diet affects the determination of protein quality. The replacement of maize starch by potato starch in the diet caused an increase in faecal N excretion and a decrease in urinary N excretion until a level of 200 g potato starch kg ‐1 was reached. This affected the determination of TD and BV accordingly. An increase in the size of the caecum of the rats fed potato starch indicated that increased fermentation may have resulted in production of additional bacterial cells to be excreted in the faeces. Thus, both the amount of fibre and the type of starch in the diet affect the determination of protein quality.