Nutritional value of some Czechoslovak varieties of wheat, triticale and rye

Abstract

Chemical composition, protein quality and digestible energy (DE) were evaluated in nine varieties of wheat and three varieties of both triticale and rye, grown in Czechoslovakia. Protein quality evaluation was based on true protein digestibility (TD), biological value (BV), net protein utilization (NPU) and utilizable protein (UP) determined in nitrogen balance experiments on rats. The contents of soluble (SDF) and insoluble (IDF) dietary fibre and alkyl resorcinols (AR) were higher in rye than in wheat or triticale, while the crude protein (CP) content of rye was lower. Trypsin inhibitor activity was low in wheat, intermediate in triticale and high in rye. The TD was higher for wheat and triticale than for rye and was positively correlated with SDF. The BV and NPU were higher in rye than in wheat and triticale and were positively correlated with lysine per unit protein. The BV, NPU and UP values in triticale var. ‘Lasko’ were significantly higher than those in any other wheat or triticale varieties. High correlations were found between grain yield and the yields of CP, UP and DE. There was no significant relationship between protein yield and protein content. It is concluded that grain yield is the main factor influencing the UP yield per hectare.