Adaptation of the domestic chicken, Gallus domesticus, to continuous feeding of albumin amylase inhibitors from wheat flour as gastro-resistant microgranules.

Albumin amylase inhibitors were extracted from wheat flour, precipitated by salting out the extract with ammonium sulphate, and enclosed in cellulose-coated microgranules resistant to the peptic action in the chicken gizzard. Continuous intake of gastro-resistant wheat albumins significantly (P less than 0.01) depressed chicken growth rate, whereas native wheat albumins did not show such an effect. After 4 weeks of treatment, treated chickens showed a growth rate identical to that of control chickens thus showing that an adaptation to the presence of wheat albumins in the diet had occurred. Treated chickens also showed pancreas hypertrophy and a number of histological changes in the pancreas indicating degenerative processes in progress. Moreover, in treated chickens the production of pancreatic amylase was markedly increased (P less than 0.02), whereas pancreatic protease activity was less affected. The data obtained suggest that the synthesis of pancreatic amylase in chicken is under some homeostatic control of alpha-amylase in the intestine.