[Chemical and nutritional evaluation of triticale (Secale sp.) cultivated in Chile]

Six varieties of triticale and two varieties of wheat flours were analyzed for their proximal composition. The protein content of triticale flours ranged from 7.2 to 11.0%, and that of wheat flours, was 10.8 and 10.9%, respectively. The biological quality of Tca 8-74, measured as PER in Wistar rats, was 1.14, while that of commercial wheat flour was 0.85 (P less than 0.05). Amino acid supplementation of triticale flour with 0.2% L-lysine or 0.4% DL-threonine did not improve the biological quality of the protein. Supplementation with both amino acids, however, significantly improved both weight gain and PER. The value for the latter was 2.59 as compared to 2.62 for the standard casein diet. A panification assay was carried out using triticale, wheat and triticale: wheat blends in the following proportions: 1:0; 3:1; 1:1; 1:3; 0:1, and all of the breads were tested for their PER in rats. The PER for wheat bread and triticale bread was 1.05 and 1.25, respectively. None of the breads made from the wheat and triticale blends improved its protein quality beyond that of the wheat or triticale breads. The results of this study indicate that triticale has a better protein quality than wheat; furthermore, it may be used either alone or mixed with wheat in panification without affecting its protein value.