Nutritional and Physiological Effects of Gradual Fish Replacement by Volvacea Volvaria Powder in Growing Rats
Abstract
This work aimed to evaluate the effect of substitution offish proteins by powder of Volvariella volvacea, an edible mushroom of Côte d'Ivoire, in the growing rats. The gradual substitution offish proteins by mushroom proteins leads to a decrease in the growth performance of rats. With 75 % and 100 % mushroom in diets, body weight gain, food efficiency and protein efficiency ratio are negative. These diets do not affect the average weight of some organs (heart, liver and spleen), except for the kidney average weight that increases as mushroom levels increase in diets. Likewise, the average weight of abdominal fat decreases and disappears as the mushroom incorporation rate increases. The incorporation of mushroom powder into the control diet provokes changes in the mean value of some serum metabolites and electrolytes. The popular belief that states that mushrooms proteins can substitute meat proteins is not valid. Mushrooms can be proposed as dietetic regime for obese people.
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Introduction
Mushrooms are part of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs). They have longtime played an important role in the survival of both rural and urban populations in Africa [1]. Furthermore, edible mushroom are rich in nutrients such as proteins [2] with a good proportion of essential amino acids and minerals [3, 4, 5]. They can be consumed in addition to cereals to meet the protein needs of poor populations [5]. [6] have argued that Agrocybe chaxingu may be a food source for protein enrichment and can therefore be classified as high protein foods for both humans and livestock. [7] stated that edible mushroom proteins are affordable and less expensive and can be consumed as a supplement or alternative to fish or meat. This work is carried out in order to study the performance offish proteins replacement by the proteins of Volvariella volvacea, a widely known edible mushroom in Côte d’Ivoire.
Conclusion
From this study, it’sconcluded that mushrooms consumption provoked low feed ingestion and consequently low growth. The results indicated that edible mushroom proteins cannot support the growth of rats. So, the popular belief that states that mushrooms proteins can substitute meat proteins is not valid. Mushroom-based diets may have possible negative effects on heart, kidneys and liver function. The absence of abdominal fat suggests that mushrooms can be proposed as dietetic regime for obese people. However, no serious affection of these edible compounds is noted on blood parameters.