Abstract
The inclusion of autoclaved jack beans (JB) at 140 or 280 gkg-1 of semi-purified diet severely reduced growth rate, dry matter (DM) intakes and efficiencies of food and N utilization of young chicks. Arginine supplementation of diets containing 280 g JB kg-1 diet induced only minor improvements in growth and DM intakes, but efficiency of N utilization was impaired appreciably. Apparent metabolizable energy (AME) values of JB were calculated from the determined AME contents of diets containing this bean. Highest classical and N-conrected AME values (11.8 and 12.0 MJ kg-1 DM, respectively) were recorded with a batch of JB which had been soaked in water for 20 h at 40 C, minced, autoclaved for 1 h, dried and ground before dietary incorporation at 280 g kg-1 diet. The AME (N-corrected): gross energy ratio of 0.63 for this batch of JB is appreciably higher than that calculated for other legume grains.
