NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF DHUB (LIZARD) MEAT (UROMASTYS-AEGYPTIUS BLANFORD 1874) AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ITS PROTEIN USING ELECTROPHORETIC TECHNIQUES

The nutritional quality and protein characteristics of Dhub (Lizard) m eat were studied. Some essential amino acids (phenylalanine plus tyros ine, threonine, histidine and tryptophan) were lower while isoleucine was higher in Dhub meat protein compared to beef and cow milk proteins . However, the essential amino acid profile of Dhub meat protein surpa ssed the essential amino acid requirements of the FAO/WHO/UNU for chil dren and adults. In vitro protein digestibility and computed protein e fficiency ratio values were 90.7% and 2.62, respectively, compared to 89.6% and 2.50 for ANRC-Casein. Isoelectric focusing showed that most of the sarcoplasmic protein patterns in Dhub were localized in the pH range 3.5-8.5 and they were different from beef, lamb, camel meat, chi cken and king mackerel fish. On the other hand, horizontal SDS electro phoresis showed a molecular weight distribution of major Dhub meat pro tein bands in the range of 18 to 79 KD. Dhub meat protein had a distin guishing band with molecular weight of 200 KD which did not appeare in lamb, camel, chicken and fish (King mackerel) meat proteins.