Cereal Chem 63:75-77   |  VIEW ARTICLE
Chemical Composition and Nutritive Value of Dark Hard and Yellow Hard Kernels of Canadian Winter Wheats (Triticum aestivum L.) Fed to Laboratory Rats.

D. M. Anderson, P. A. Thacker, M. Fenton, and J. P. Bowland. Copyright 1986 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Sixty Sprague-Dawley rats (initial weight 84 g) were randomly assigned to one of 10 treatments in a 21-day growth trial conducted to compare the nutritive value of light and dark kernels of Canadian winter wheats. The experimental diets for this growth trial contained the winter wheat cultivars Yogo, Sundance, Nugaines, Winalta, or Kharkov separated into kernels of light or dark color by a density-gradient method. The diets contained 92.4% wheat , 7.0% vitamin-mineral premix, and 0.6% chromic oxide as a digestibility indicator. Digestibility coefficients for dry matter, energy, and protein were highest for the cultivar Winalta and lowest for the cultivar Sundance. Light-colored kernels had a lower digestibility coefficient for dry matter and energy but a higher digestibility coefficient for protein in comparison with dark-colored kernels. Average weight gain was higher for rats fed the cultivar Sundance (57.6 g) compared with Yogo (44.4 g), with the other cultivars producing intermediate gains. There was no difference in feed conversion efficiency between wheat cultivars. Color of kernel had no significant effect on weight gain, feed consumption, or feed conversion efficiency.