Nutritive value of mixtures using chick-peas with wheat, triticale, normal and opaque-2 corns.

Chemical and biological evaluation of cereal-legume mixtures prepared with normal or genetically improved cereals were made. Wheat, triticale, normal corn, two varieties of opaque-2 corn: soft and hard endosperm, and chick-peas were used. The results showed that although the protein content in the normal and in the genetically improved cereals was similar, the lysine, tryptophan, sulfur amino acids and leucine in the genetically improved cereals gave a better balance in their protein. This was reflected in the protein efficiency ratio values, which demonstrated that the mixtures of genetically improved cereals and chick-peas were statistically different from those prepared with normal cereals. The best results were found with the triticale flour and hard endosperm opaque-2 corn mixtures. It is concluded that the mixtures prepared with genetically improved cereals permit a reduction in the amount of legume in the mixtures maintaining a high protein value and preserving the desirable cereal properties.