Research Objective
The use of pulses as a protein supplying ingredients in animal feed, including swine, are limited. Pulses are often limited in one or more amino acids (methionine/cysteine and/or tryptophan), resulting in reduced protein quality of the ingredient compared to animal derived protein sources. A deeper understanding of the effects of processing on pulse nutrients and on protein quality and developing both standardized ileal digestibility (SID) coefficients as well as metabolic availability (MA) of amino acids of pulses will allow for greater utilization.
Changes in protein and amino acids were primarily pulse type dependent, and most likely attributed to physical changes of the ingredient that changed the overall nutrient content rather than chemical transformations of the ingredient. Additionally, changes in nutrient content due to processing were pulse ingredient dependent, suggesting that to optimize the nutrient content of pulses, pulse specific processing parameters should be used rather than a standardized approach for all pulse ingredients. Standardized ileal digestibility coefficients were determined for all amino acids, with the majority of amino acids being highly digestible.