In vitro and in vivo digestibility of the albumin and globulin fractions of eight Brazilian cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp] cultivars

Abstract

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is a very important crop for people living in the north-east of Brazilwhere it constitutes the principal source of protein and carbohydrate. In this study, it was observed that the in vitro digestibility of the seed albumin and globulin fractions extracted from eight Brazilian cowpea cultivars was high when treated with pepsin but resistant to degradation by trypsin or chymotrypsin even after 3 h of treatment. When the albumin and globulin fractions were given to rats by intragastric intubation it was observed that intact proteins or their fragments were immunodetected in the faeces. Immunohistochemical analyses of the gut sections of these rats showed that a proportion of the albumin fraction (or its fragments), but not the globulin one, was bound to the brush border enterocytes in the duodenum. Thus the incomplete enzymatic degradation of both globulin and albumin fractions as well as the albumin binding to the gut may have a bearing upon the growth depression, malabsorption and diarrhoea observed on rats fed on cowpea seeds.

Nutritional quality of storage proteins during germination of Indian bean (Dolichos lablab. var. lignosus) seeds

“…PD increased considerably up to 24 h soaking in case of chick pea, whereas increasing trend was noticed up to 36 h soaking in case of pigeon pea. Oliveira et al . (2004) observed that the in vitro digestibility of the seed albumin and globulin fractions extracted from eight Brazilian cow pea cultivars was high when treated with pepsin but resistant to degradation by trypsin or chymotrypsin.…”

“…For assessing protein quality in vitro and in vivo methods are employed. Present studies on IVPD have been worked out by various investigators by using proteolytic enzymes (Sarwar, 1997; Oliveira et al ., 2004; Urbano et al ., 2005a, b). Laurena et al ., (1991) studied IVPD’s of various legumes and reported a range of 70–90% where multienzyme system was used.…”

“…The food processing methods including soaking, germination, decortications, fermentation and cooking greatly influence their nutritive values. Of these, cooking plays an important role as it influences the bioavailability and utilisation of nutrients and also improves palatability that incidentally may result in enhancing the digestibility and nutritive value (Trugo et al ., 2000; Jirapa et al ., 2001; Ekanayake et al ., 2003; Oliveira et al ., 2004; Wong et al ., 2004).…”

Comparison of grain protein profiles of Brazilian cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) cultivars based on principal component analysis

“…The reduction of data complexity promotes better observation of possible (2022) 4:16 connections between variables. Previous studies have also shown that there may be variations in protein fractions among different cultivars (Oliveira et al 2004;Teka et al 2020;I. M. Vasconcelos et al 2010).…”