NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION OF TRITICALE, WHEAT AND RYE GROWN IN ATLANTIC CANADA USING RATS

Abstract

Triticale (T) (cv. Trillium and Beauguelita), wheat (W) (cv. Belvedere) and rye (R) (cv. Kodiak) were evaluated in two growth trials with weanling Sprague-Dawley rats (10 per treatment) and in a metabolism trial with larger rats (body weight > 250 g). In trial 1, protein efficiency ratios (PER) were determined using 10% crude protein (CP) diets where the CP came exclusively from T-Beauguelita, T-Trillium, New Brunswick (NB) grown W-Belvedere, R-Kodiak (1984 or 1986 crop) or casein. Weight gain on both samples of R-Kodiak (avg. 64.4 g) was greater (P < 0.05) than on T-Beaguelita or W-Belvedere NB (45.5 and 38.3 g, respectively). The PER for casein (3.05) was higher than for R-Kodiak (avg. 1.90), T-Beaguelita (1.74), T-Trillium (1.66) or W-Belvedere NB (1.39). In trial 3, an additional sample of W-Belvedere grown in Nova Scotia (NS) was evaluated. Diets contained 93% test grain which supplied all of the CP and digestible energy (DE). Weight gain on T-Beaguelita (80.0 g) was greater than on R-Kodiak 1984 (62.2 g) while weight gain on W-Belvedere NS (43.2 g) was the lowest among all grains (P < 0.05). Apparent digestible energy (ADE) and apparent metabolizable energy (AME) of W-Belvedere NB (3453 and 3314 kcal kg−1, respectively) were higher than for W-Belvedere NS (3206 and 3129 kcal kg−1, respectively). ADE and AME of T-Beaguelita, T-Trillium and R-Kodiak 1984 were similar and lower in value than that of wheat. Triticale was well accepted by rats and was similar to rye and greater than the N.S. sample of wheat in nutritive value. Keys words: Triticale, rye, wheat, digestibility, protein efficiency ratio, PER, rat