Effect of enzyme supplementation on the nutritive value of malted sorghum sprout in the rat

Abstract

The composition of malted sorghum sprout (MSP) and its nutritive value when supplemented with an exogenous enzyme was investigated using weanling albino rats. A nitrogen free basal diet was formulated along with a soya bean meal (SBM) reference diet (10% CP) and two test diets each containing 10% CP supplied by MSP. One of the two diets was further supplemented with Roxaxyme which is an exogenous enzyme that contains cellulase, glucanase, hemicellulase and protease. The 40 weanling albino rats used for the experiment were divided into 4 groups of 10 rats and each group was allotted to the different diets. The rats were individually housed in cages with facilities for separate urine and faecal collection. Performance characteristics and blood components of the rats were used as criteria of response. MSP contains 199.7, 28.3, 83.0, 74.9 and 52.9 g kg-¹ of CP, EE, CF, ash and NFE respectively. Potassium (16.67 g kg-¹) and Fe (589.93 mg kg-¹) were the most abundant major and trace minerals respectively. The correspondingly least abundant minerals are Ca (0.59g kg'¹) and Cu (221 g kg-¹). Supplementation of MSP diet with exogenous enzyme significantly increased (P<0.05) the growth rate, feed intake, protein efficiency ratio, net protein retention and apparent protein digestibilities of the rats. But all these values were lower (P<0.05) than those obtained for the reference (SBM) diet. Serum, Na⁺ K⁺ Cl, HCO₃, were increased (P<0.05) in rats that received MSP diets. While the levels of serum total protein, albumin, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase and glutamate pyruvate transaminase did not vary significantly with dietary treatments. Addition of enzyme increased (p<0.05) the level of serum cholesterol in rats. It was concluded that the nutritive value of MSP is quite low. However, supplementing MSP based diets with suitable exogenous enzymes could enhance its feeding value.

Keywords: Malted sorghum sprout, Enzyme supplementation, nutritive value, Rat