Nutritive value of malted sorghum sprout

Abstract

An experiment was conducted with weanling albino rats of winster strain to determine the nutritive value of malted sorghum sprout (MSP). A basal diet (Nitrogen free) was formulated along with four (4) different 10% protein diets as follows (I) Soybean meal (reference) (2) MSP, (3) MPS + Methionine + Lysine The 30 weanling rats used in the experiment were divided into 5 group of 6 rats e.ich, and each group was alloted to the different diets. The rats were housed individually. Rats fed soybean meal diet had retention and growth rates which were significantly (P<0.05) better than other retention and growth rates. Supplementation of MSP with either methionine alone or methionine and lysine improved the performance of rats compared to the unsupplemented MSP diet which ranked lowest. Serum PO₄² were increased (p<0.05) in rats fed MSP while the serum Ca²⁺ levels did not vary significantly with the dietary treatment. There was no difference among treatment means for relative organ weight (p>0.05). It was concluded that the protein quality of MSP is poor but can be slightly improved by supplementation with synthetic methionine and lysine.

Keywords:   Nutritive value, malted sorghum sprout, albino rats