Cereal Chem 45:469 - 479.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Effect of Cobalt-60 Gamma-Irradiation on the Utilization of Energy, Protein, and Phosphorus from Wheat Bran by the Chicken.

E. T. Moran, Jr., J. D. Summers, and H. S. Bayley. Copyright 1968 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The effect of insect deinfestation and extreme levels of cobalt-60 gamma-irradiation on several aspects of nutritional value was studied in wheat bran. Initial studies on metabolizable energy and amino acid composition showed no outstanding differences between treatments, and later permitted accurate isocaloric formulation and optimal supplementation of assay diets. Feeding the respective brans to chicks (1 to 3 weeks old) in semipurified diets as sole source of protein and phosphorus revealed significant improvements in growth and ratio of gain to feed consumed when amino acid supplementation was termed optimal and bran was irradiated. Also noted when bran was irradiated were significant improvements in net protein and P utilization. Although utilization of P was greater at the 5.0-Mrad treatment level than with 0.5 Mrad, this was not true for net protein utilization (NPU). On the basis of failure to demonstrate differences in growth, feed efficiency, or NPU between birds fed control and irradiated bran diets, when cystine was derived exclusively from the associated protein and the only limiting nutrient, it seemed improbable that this disulfide unit was measurably affected by the cobalt-60 treatment.