Variations among species of animals in response to the feeding of heat-processed beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.). 2. Growth and organ weights of chickens and rats and digestibility for rats

Abstract

During a period of 14 days, chicks and rats were fed diets containing 20% Phaseolus vulgaris beans which had been heat processed for 0, 20, 40 and 80 min. The growth of the chickens on the diet containing the unprocessed beans was less than those animals which had been fed beans that had been heated for 20 min or longer. The latter did not differ significantly from a control diet in which casein replaced the bean protein. On the other hand, the growth of rats on the same diets did not differ significantly among the various experimental groups. A digestibility trial with rats revealed the digestibility of dry matter and protein from the raw bean diet to be somewhat lower than, but still significantly different from, that of animals fed the diets with the heat-processed beans. The latter, however, were still inferior to the values obtained in the casein control diet. The weights of the pancreas and small intestines were greater when the chicks and rats had been fed the raw-bean diet in place of the diet with the heated beans. A comparison of these results with those obtained with piglets in the preceding study permitted the conclusion that the piglet is more sensitive to the negative effects of the antinutritional factors present in Phaseolus vulgaris than the chick and rat, and that the chick is more sensitive than the rat.