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L ‐canavanine: A natural feed‐intake inhibitor for pigs (isolation, identification and significance)
Author(s) -
Enneking Dirk,
Giles Lynne C,
Tate Max E,
Davies Late Richard L
Publication year - 1993
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.2740610305
Subject(s) - canavanine , ingestion , bioavailability , zoology , meal , digestion (alchemy) , arginine , food science , livestock , biology , chemistry , biochemistry , pharmacology , amino acid , chromatography , ecology
Abstract : A major feed‐intake inhibitor for pigs is present in seeds of Vicia villosa spp dasycarpa Roth cv Namoi. When the seed is fed for 4 days at only 80 g kg −1 of the diet, it produces a steady diminution in daily feed intake to 25% or less of their pre‐treatment consumption ( P < 0·001), after the first feeding. The inhibitor has been isolated and identified as L ‐canavanine. When analytically pure L ‐canavanine dihydrochloride is supplied at an equivalent dietary concentration (13·0 mmol kg −1 ) to that supplied by 80 g kg −1 of Namoi vetch seed, it successfully mimics the response. The response is only observed after the first meal. A review of published literature showed the diversity of animal species exhibiting a feed‐inhibition response to canavanine‐containing seeds. These reports suggest that this well‐documented arginine analogue will be a useful molecule for the study of post‐ingestion feed‐intake regulation. An ambient temperature procedure for the large‐scale isolation of L ‐canavanine dihydrochloride is described.