Cereal Chem 69:55- 60   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Studies on the Improvement of Quality of Wheat Infected with Karnal Bunt. II. Nutritional and Biological Effects.

N. Singh, K. S. Sekhon, A. K. Srivastava, and P. P. Gupta. Copyright 1992 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The effect of feeding diets of wheat containing Karnal bunt and trimethylamine to rats and the effectiveness of debranning and lye peeling in controlling the adverse biological effects of the infected wheat on rats were investigated. The trials revealed that gains in body weight and protein efficiency ratio were lowest for the diet containing 10 meq of trimethylamine. Packed cell volume and neutrophils and monocytes in the blood of rats were significantly reduced by the presence of Karnal bunt or trimethylamine in the diets, while reticulocytes, leucocytes, lymphocytes, and eosinophils increased. The adverse effects of Karnal bunt on the hematological parameters were largely overcome by debanning and lye peeling. These treatments significantly reduced the activities of various enzymes in different organs and the plasma of rats from levels found on the diets containing Karnal bunt or trimethylamine.