In vivo protein quality of new sorghum genotypes for human consumption.

The in vivo protein qualities were evaluated in flours from raw sorghum grains (RF) and flours from sorghum grains subjected to heat treatment in an oven (HTF) from the hybrids BRS 305, BRS 309 and BRS 310, developed by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). There were no differences in feed efficiency ratios among experimental groups. Heat-treated flour from BRS 309 and BRS 310 genotypes had higher protein efficiency ratios and net protein ratio values; however, they did not differ from those of flour from raw grain of BRS 310 genotype. Effects of heat treatment were observed in the BRS 309 genotype. Heat treatment did not affect true digestibility observed for the RF and HTF of the three genotypes. Lysine was the first limiting amino acid of the three sorghum genotypes. The HTF BRS 305 showed the lowest protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score value. Heat treatment improved the protein quality of genotype BRS 309; however, no differences were observed among the other genotypes.