In vivo and in vitro protein and amino acid digestibility of legume seeds in pig diets

The apparent ileal protein and amino acid digestibility was determined in l egume seeds by in vivo and in vitro procedures. For both estimations 12 sem isynthetic diets containing 3 varietes of faba bean, 3 varietes of pea and 6 variates of different lupin species were used. For in vivo determinations cannulated pigs were used and in vitro analyses were performed as describe d by Boisen and Fernandez (1995). The relationship between in vitro predict ed and in vivo values of protein digestibility was close (r(2) = 0.90). The highest correlation between in vitro predicted and in vivo values of amino acid digestibility was found for cystine and methionine (r(2) = 0.94 and 0 .89, respectively). The lower correlation was obtain for lysine (r(2) = 0.7 6) and poor correlation for threonine (r(2) = 0.43), it was possible to pre dict with satisfactory precision the apparent ileal digestibility of protei n, cystine and methionine in legume seeds using in vitro technique.