Essential amino acid composition and biological quality of yambean, Sphenostylis stenocarpa (Hochst ex A. Rich) harms.

The essential amino acids and protein bioavailability of raw, roasted and pre-soaked, pressure cooked yambean were evaluated. Roasting caused decrease of 8% while soaking with pressure cooking caused decrease of 15-39% in the lysine composition of yambean. Rats fed raw, unprocessed bean diet showed overt signs of diarrhoea, poor protein utilization and hence poor growth. Processing considerably improved all growth indices--food conversion efficiency, protein efficiency ratio, digestibility, biological value, net protein utilization, protein retention efficiency and net protein ratio.