Nutritional Evaluation of Pulses and Soybean Meal in Dogs

Six adult Labrador dogs were used in this experiment to evaluate total tract apparent nutrient digestibility and energy values of some protein feedstuffs. Seven digestibility trials were conducted. The 30% of basal diet was replaced with test ingredient which included one conventional feed ingredient i.e. soybean (Glycine max) meal (SBM) and five pulses (black-eyed pea or roongi (Vigna unguiculata), red lentil or masoor (Lens culinaris) dhuli, moong (Vigna radiata) dhuli, split bengal gram or chana (Cicer arietinum) dal and split black gram or urad (Vigna mungo) dhuli dal). The prepared mash diets were cooked and then fed to each dog as per their body weight and nutrient requirement. The difference/substitution method was used to estimate total tract apparent nutrient digestibility and energy values of these six protein ingredients. The DM, OM, CP, EE digestibility of masoor dhuli dal was significantly (P<0.05) higher than all other protein ingredients. The digestibility of DM, CP, EE, CF and DE in SBM was similar to that in masoor dhuli dal, however, ME value of masoor dhuli dal was higher (P<0.05) than that of SBM. The ME value of chana dal and mung dhuli dal was similar to that of SBM. It was concluded that masoor dhuli dal could be used as an effective protein source in dog diets.