Effect of heating on nutritional quality of conventional and Kunitz trypsin inhibitor-free soybeans.

Five 10-day chick growth experiments and an amino acid digestibility assay were conducted to assess the effect of steam heating on in vivo protein quality of raw, full-fat Kunitz trypsin inhibitor-free soybeans (KFSB) compared with raw, conventional full-fat soybeans (CSB). Protein solubility in .2% KOH was also evaluated as an in vitro test of in vivo protein quality for underprocessed CSB. The CSB and KFSB were autoclaved for 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, or 21 min at 121 C and 124 kPa. The soybeans were then fed to 8- or 9-day-old chicks as the sole source of protein in dextrose and soybean diets containing 23% protein. Growth performance of chicks fed raw KFSB was superior to that of chicks fed raw CSB. Growth performance of chicks fed autoclaved KFSB or CSB increased and pancreas weight (percentage of body weight) decreased as autoclaving time increased. Slightly less autoclaving time was consistently required to achieve maximum chick performance for KFSB compared with CSB. Less autoclaving time was also required to obtain maximum digestibility of amino acids in KFSB compared with CSB. Urease activity of the soybeans decreased as autoclaving time increased, whereas protein solubility in .2% KOH for CSB did not change consistently in response to heating time. The results of the present study indicate that raw KFSB must be heated to obtain maximum protein quality for chicks and that protein solubility in KOH is not a sensitive indicator of underprocessing of CSB soybeans.