A Difference in in vitro Pancreatic Digestion between Animal and Plant Protein Feeds

Abstract

MELNICK et al.¹ and Evans² found that the rate of enzymatic liberation of amino-acids from soybean proteins preheated at different temperatures provides an explanation for their different growth-promoting properties for the growing chick. We have used this principle to investigate the differences between the biological value of various types of protein feeding-stuffs for animals. In the course of this work we observed a property in which plant and animal proteins differ: pancreatic digests of plant protein feeds, but not of animal protein feeds, yielded considerable precipitates on addition of trichloracetic acid.