[Nutritional value and antinutritional factor content of precooked flours prepared from Canavalia ensiformis]

Precooked flours obtained five Canavalia ensiformis varieties were prepared by dehydration in double drums. On a dry matter basis, significant differences (P < 0.05) among varieties were detected for crude protein content (25 to 30%), starch (36 to 40%) and dietary fiber (13 to 15%). Hemagglutinins were eliminated as result of the high temperature (146 degrees C/4 min) employed during the drying process. Similar results were not obtained for trypsin inhibitors and canavanine considering that small amounts of these compounds remained in the precooked flours prepared from canavalia seeds. A 10% decrease in available lysine was observed. Biological assays yielded Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) values of 0, 8-1 and Neat Proteic Relation (NPR) values of 2-3-2.6. True digestibility of protein values were improved from 87 to 90%. All cultivars had similar starch digestive utilization coefficient (96%) and starch fraction (4%) resistant to enzymatic hydrolysis in the rat digestive tract.