The influence of milling on the nutritive value of flour from cereal grains. 3. Barley

An approach to including protein quality when assessing the net contribution of livestock to human food supply

The production of protein from animal sources is often criticized because of the low efficiency of converting plant protein from feeds into protein in the animal products. However, this critique does not consider the fact that large portions of the plant-based proteins fed to animals may be human-inedible and that the quality of animal proteins is usually superior as compared with plant proteins. The aim of the present study was therefore to assess changes in protein quality in the course of the transformation of potentially human-edible plant proteins into animal products via livestock production; data from 30 Austrian dairy farms were used as a case study. A second aim was to develop an approach for combining these changes with quantitative aspects (e.g. with the human-edible feed conversion efficiency (heFCE), defined as kilogram protein in the animal product divided by kilogram potentially human-edible protein in the feeds). Protein quality of potentially human-edible inputs and outputs was assessed using the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score and the digestible indispensable amino acid score, two methods proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to describe the nutritional value of proteins for humans. Depending on the method used, protein scores were between 1.40 and 1.87 times higher for the animal products than for the potentially human-edible plant protein input on a barn-gate level (=protein quality ratio (PQR)). Combining the PQR of 1.87 with the heFCE for the same farms resulted in heFCE×PQR of 2.15. Thus, considering both quantity and quality, the value of the proteins in the animal products for human consumption (in this case in milk and beef) is 2.15 times higher than that of proteins in the potentially human-edible plant protein inputs. The results of this study emphasize the necessity of including protein quality changes resulting from the transformation of plant proteins to animal proteins when evaluating the net contribution of livestock to the human food supply. Furthermore, these differences in protein quality might also need to be considered when choosing a functional unit for the assessment of environmental impacts of the production of different proteins.

Comparative effects of wheat bran and barley husk on nutrient utilization in rats. 2. Zinc, calcium and phosphorus

1. The present work was undertaken to study comparatively the effect on mineral availability in rats of wheat bran and barley husk when supplying the same amount of dietary fibre (DF). The experiment involved a total of nine dietary treatments including a control group and two series of four groups with increasing amounts of fibre from the two sources (total DF ranging from 42 to 117 g/kg dry matter (DM]. Dietary nitrogen concentration was kept constant at 15 g N/kg DM. Zinc concentration of the diets was adjusted to the level provided by the diet with the highest wheat-bran content (21 mg/kg DM) using zinc sulphate. Other minerals were not adjusted. 2. Two experiments were performed. In Expt 1 the diets were given to 5-week-old rats during 9 d and apparent absorptions of Zn, calcium and phosphorus and the femur concentrations of Zn, Ca and P were measured. In Expt 2 the diets were given to 9-week-old rats during 12 d. Mineral concentration in femur and total and albumin-bound plasma Zn and availability of plasma Zn for enzyme reactivation were measured. 3. In the younger animals, wheat bran depressed significantly the absorption of Zn when providing 40 g DF/kg DM and absorbtion of Ca when providing 80 g DF/kg DM. Barley husk depressed significantly both the absorption of Zn and Ca already at 20 g DF/kg DM. Both fibre sources had a more negative effect on Zn than on Ca absorption. Only barley husk had a small negative effect on absorption of P. Phytate did not appear as a major factor affecting mineral absorption in barley husk. All diets containing barley husk had a very low molar ratio, phytate:Zn. 4. The age of the animals influenced the utilization of dietary minerals using femur concentration as a criterion, particularly in the case of Zn. In the younger animals the decrease in femur Zn with fibre correlated with apparent Zn absorption both with wheat bran (R2 0.986, P less than 0.01) and with barley husk (R2 0.996, P less than 0.01). In the older animals femur Zn did not change significantly with fibre. 5. In the older animals, plasma Zn, albumin-bound plasma Zn and availability of plasma Zn for enzyme reactivation were lowest with the highest addition of wheat bran.