Effect of feeding some plant foods as source of dietary fibre on biological utilisation of diet in rats.

Isoproteinous diets containing 1% cholesterol and 10% fibre derived from plant foods namely, peepalbanti (Ficus religiosa), barbanti (Ficus bengalensis), gullar (Ficus glomerata), teent (Capparis decidua) and khejri beans (Prsopsis cineria) or pure cellulose, were fed to rats for 40 days. Effect of incorporation of these whole plant parts on feed intake, weight gain, feed efficiency ratio (FER), dry matter digestibility (DMD) and true protein digestibility (TPD) in weanling rats was studied. Their inclusion did not affect the weight gain significantly whereas all other parameters were influenced to a varying extent. Foods rich in lignin had relatively lower FER, DMD and TPD whereas cellulose and pectin rich foods had higher DMD and TPD.