How chickpea can be beneficial in poultry nutrition with reference to its nutritive value

How chickpea can be beneficial in poultry nutrition with reference to its nutritive value

Suneeta1, Rakhi Sharma2, Prakash Chandra1 D.P. Tiwari3 and Awadhesh Kishore4

1 RBS College, Bichpuri-283105, Agra INDIA;

2 Institute for Development of Technology for Rural Advancement, Mathura-281004 INDIA;

3 GBPUAT, Pantnagar-263145 INDIA.

4 Sarvoday Mahavidyalaya, Chaumuhan-281406, Mathura INDIA

Summary:

A chickpea is a good source of zinc, folate and protein, however, main nutritive value seems to be as protein supplement for poultry. It is an important source of available energy because of its high level starch content and the amount of soluble carbohydrate.

Key words:

Chickpea, India, Nutrition, Nutritive value, Poultry, Protein supplement.

The chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is an edible legume is a member of genus Cicer of the legume family Fabaceae and subfamily Faboideae and the only genus found in Tribe Cicereae. Its native distribution is across the Middle East and Asia. Chickpea is high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables; 7,500-year-old remains have been found in the Middle East (Philologos, 2005). Its best known and only domesticated member is Cicer arietinum, the species which includes the Chickpea, or Garbanzo bean.

Production:

India is the world leader in chickpea production (5970000 ton; 66.33% of world production) followed by Pakistan and Turkey. Other major chickpea producers are Australia, Iran, Myanmar, Canada, Ethiopia, Mexico and Iraq.

Legume seeds play an important role in both human and animal nutrition as a good source of protein, carbohydrate, minerals and some vitamins, however, they contain low amount of peptides containing amino acids. Among legume crops chickpea is an important source of protein in several developing countries. The presence of several antinutritional factors such as protease inhibitors, polyphenolic compounds and phytic acid etc in chickpea seeds limit their use for human nutrition, however, legume proteins are the natural protein suitable to complement that present in cereal grains. When both are ingested, in appropriate ratio, the protein quality becomes higher than that of the individual components (Bressani, 1975). In general, legume seeds comprise an important part of the human diet in developing countries in tropical and subtropical areas, where their nutritional contribution is of paramount importance. A large segment of the population in these areas has limited access to food of animal origin. This has been the case with chickpea which has seldom been used in animal nutrition. However if the economics of its production were improved, either by increasing the yield or by the introduction of mechanization of the crop, the chickpea can then be a good alternative to the imported protein sources in poultry feed. From the data on the composition of chickpea samples analysed in this study were compare with those mentioned in International Feed Composition Tables (Feedstuff, 1986). As a potential feedstuff, chickpea showed a high level of crude protein and starch, and low fibre content. The amino acids profile adequately adjusts to poultry requirements with the exceptions for tryptophane and methionine, respectively. There is no apparent anti-nutritive factors other than tannins whose effect must be further tested.

Chemical composition:

Chickpea is an important source of available energy because of its high level starch content (45-54%) and the amount of soluble carbohydrate (2-9%). The content of crude protein is ranging from 18 to 24%, which compares well with other protein sources. The values in this respect are closer to faba bean major (26%), pea (21% and Lupinus albus (24%). In addition it can be seen that fibre content is not too high (3-8%) with most of this fibre content belonging to the NDF fraction(13- 20%) rather than to the ADF (5-13%) or to the ADL ones (0.1 - 0.8%), meaning that it is highly degradable. Chickpea has a crude fïber content close to that of pea (6.4%) or faba bean (8.3%) but much lower than that of Lupinus albus (1 1.9%) or Lupinus luteus (17.8%). The high fat content (4-6%) is a good contribution for non-ruminant energy fraction. Chickpea is nearly free from cyanidric acid. The level of tannins varied from 78 to 181 mg/100 g DM. The impact of tannins on the nutritive value depends not only on their level but also on the form they occur i.e. condensed or free tannins. The arginine content (% of protein) varies from 4.4 to 8.0 which compares with Lathyrus cicera (6.8), Lathyrzls ochrus (8.0) and Vicia sativa (6.6) and is higher than casein (3.9) which is usually used as a reference. The cystine content (3.5 - 5.0 of protein) is much higher than in the other legumes such as Lathyrus cicera (1.4), Lathyrus ochrus (1.1) and Vicia sativa (1.1) and casein (0.4) but close to that of Lupinus albus (4.1) or Lupinus luteus (5.9). The lysine content varies from 6.6 to 10.3 and also methionine content from1.3 to 1.6% of protein which are higher than other legumes. However tryptophane content (1.02 to 1.46 of protein) seems to be closer to the values observed with Lathyrus cicera (1.04), faba bean nzajor (1.05), Lupinus albus (0.96) and higher than Lathyrus ochrus (0.28).

Nutritive value:

Main nutritive value of chickpea seems to be as protein supplement, in particular for poultry. From the comparison between composition of chickpea and nutrient requirements it seems that tryptophan is the limiting amino acid followed by lysine and sulphur amino acids. However, this limitation is not critical (with the exception of tryptophan) and chickpea can be the main constituent of the protein fraction of poultry diets. Methionine is important limiting sulphur containing amino acid followed by arginine and lysine. A methionine rich supplement or synthetic methionine may be added to the chickpea to overcome deficiency.

Chickpeas is a good source of zinc, folate and protein (Vegsoc, 2008*; 2008**). It is also a good source of dietary fiber and hence a healthy source of carbohydrates for persons with insulin sensitivity or diabetes and low in fat mostly fatty acids are polyunsaturated. Nutrient profile of desi chana (the smaller variety) is different, especially the fibre content which is much higher than the light coloured variety. One hundred grams of mature boiled chickpeas contains 164 kcal calories, 2.6 grams of fat (of which only 0.27 grams is saturated), 7.6 grams of dietary fiber and 8.9 grams of protein. Chickpea provids dietary phosphorus (49–53 mg/100 g) also. According to the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, chickpea seeds contain on average: 23% protein, 64% total carbohydrates, (47% starch, 6% soluble sugar), 5% fat, 6% crude fiber and 3% ash There is also a high mineral content viz. phosphorus (340 mg/100 g), calcium (140 mg/100g), magnesium 48 mg/100g iron (7 mg/100 g) zinc (1.53 mg/100 g). Chickpea can also assist in lowering of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

Results obtained in rats with the 10% level of protein replacement showed that a proper heat treatment of chickpea gives zootechnical performance (Ben Ali, 1980) similar to that obtained with a high quality protein such as casein, but the biological value being only slightly lower. An improper heat treatment leads to poor performance. Compared to the control group, untreated chickpea shows slightly lower performance. Daily growth is reduced by 12% despite the high quantity consumed (+2%). Similar results have been reported by Akbar et al. (1986) in rats and pigs.

Pigs raised on a diet incorporating 30% winter peas, which are four times richer in antitrypsic factor than chickpea, showed decreased performance than those raised on standard diet, which could be contributed to a lower energy concentration. In fact in a broiler ration, an addition of 44 g of oil and 2,5 g of methionine per kg of feed allowed the incorporation of 66% of raw pea while the growth performance of chicken was maintained (Garambois and Goussopoulos, 1982).

Weight gains and feed efficiency in rats fed chick pea diet did not differ from those fed defatted soybean diet but were significantly lower than rats fed control diet. The nitrogen digestibility and N retentions by rats fed on chickpea diet were significantly lower than those obtained with defatted soybean or control diet, which was due to increase excretion of primarily as urea through the urine. They concluded that low nutritional value of chickpea meal might be due to adverse effect of its globulin proteins on growth and nitrogen metabolism rather than to the action of any known anti-nutritional factors present in the diet.

References:

Akbar, S.; Siddiq, M. and Iqbal, P. 1986. Nutritional and organoleptic evaluation of wheat, bread, supplemented with chickpea flour. Pakistan Joumal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 29, 2, 126-129.

Ben Ali, S. 1980. Effects du trempage et de l'autoclavage sur la valeur nutritionnelle du pois chiche (Cicer arietinum L.). These de Dr. Ingenieur. Montepellier, France.

Bressani, R. 1975. Legumes in human diets and how they might be improved. In: Nutritional Improvement of Fodder, pp. 15-42.

Feedstuffs, 1986: 58, 30. Institute national des animaux monogastriques: porc, lapin, volailles. (INRA, paris). Jornal Oficial das comunidades Europeias. 130/53. 86/174/CEE.

Garambois, X. and Goussopoulos, J. 1982. Utilization du pois et du soja crus ou extrudes dans les aliments fermiers destines au poulet de chair. B.T.I., 375, 767-775.

Philologos, 2005. Chickpeas — On Language. (http://www.forward.com/articles/2119/) . Jewish Daily Forward. http://www.forward.com/articles/2119/. Retrieved 2009-03-28.

Vegsoc.org, 2008*. (http://www.vegsoc.org/info/zinc.html#diet) , "zinc", retrieved 31 January.

Vegsoc.org, 2008**. (http://www.vegsoc.org/info/protein.html) , "Protein", retrieved 31 January.