[Determination of in vitro and in vivo protein digestibility in cereals and legumes, raw and cooked].

The digestibility of some cereals and legumes was determined in rats by two in vitro methods, and compared with the in vivo technique. Four raw and cooked legumes (peas, black beans, white beans and "ayocote" beans) and three cereals (corn, rice and wheat) were used for this purpose. Prior to cooking, 0.6% DL-methionine was added to three of the legumes. The in vitro digestibility of the samples differed according to the applied methodology. Wheat and peas, both raw and cooked, showed the greatest in vitro and in vivo digestibility; methionine addition to the beans did not modify their in vivo digestibility. Of the in vitro methods used, the Akeson and Stahmann procedure showed a direct correlation with the in vivo method (r = 0.874; P less than 0.01).