Improving the Nutritional Value of Sunflower Meal by Electron Beam and Gamma Ray Irradiations

Abstract

This research was performed to compare electron beam (EB) and gamma ray (GR) treatments at doses of 25, 50 and 75 kilo Gray (kGy) on ruminal degradation kinetics and <em>in vitro</em> digestibility of sunflower meal (SFM). Ionizing radiations of EB and GR had significant effects )P<0.05( on dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and amino acid (AA) degradability parameters of SFM. Effective ruminal degradability (ERD) of DM was lower in EB and GR irradiated SFM than in unirradiated SFM) P<0.05(. GR treatment at a dose of 75 kGy decreased ERD of CP compared to control )P<0.05(. ERD of CP was not affected by EB )P>0.05(. Irradiation processing caused a decrease in AA degradation after 16 h of ruminal incubation significantly )P<0.05(. GR irradiation was more effective than EB irradiation in lessening the ruminal degradability of AA.<em>In vitro</em> CP digestibility of EB and GR irradiated SFM was improved )P<0.05(. This study, based on <em>in situ </em>and<em>in vitro</em> measures, showed that EB and GR processing can be used as an efficient method in improving nutritional value of SFM.