Effects of feeding Ascochyta-infected and normal lentils to rats (short-term study)

Weanling, female, Sprague-Dawley rats were fed diets containing either rat chow with no lentils, 80% normal lentils or 80% diseased lentils heavily infected with the fungus Ascochyta lentis. Body weight, feed consumption and clinical appearance were monitored over 90 days and blood samples were collected at the termination of the experiment. Weight gain and feed consumption were similar in the control group and the group fed diseased lentils. Weight gain was slightly depressed in the group fed normal lentils. These effects were attributed to the lentils being a poorer source of protein than the wheat, barley and soybean meal used in the control diet, but the protein content of the diseased lentils was higher than the normal lentils. Total white blood cell counts and lymphocyte counts were significantly depressed (P = 0.05) in the group fed the diseased lentil diet. Significant differences (P = 0.05) were found among groups in the ratios of liver, kidney and spleen weights to body weight.