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.