Evaluation of Nutritional Quality of Various Tempeh Preparations with Rhizopus Oligosporus in Rats

Tempehs were prepared from soybean, bengal gram, cowpea and field beans with pure spore culture of Rhizopus oligosporus MTCC 556. Prepared soybean tempeh (ST), bengal gram tempeh (BT), cowpea tempeh (CT), field bean tempeh (FT) and basal diets were evaluated through diet intake, body weight gain, protein efficiency ratio (PER), feed efficiency ratio (FER), fecal loss, blood haemoglobin, liver and serum proteins as well as enzymes profile and organ weights to see any correlation between different proteins in these cultivars and their nutritive value as a source of protein for weanling albino rats (Charles foster strain). Significant differences were observed in the diet intakes, body weight gain, PER, FER, fecal loss, blood haemoglobin, liver protein, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme, serum protein, albumin, globulin and organ weight, while, A:G ratio, alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) enzymes did not differ significantly when unfermented wheat:bengal gram (WB) (80:20) and various tempeh powders were fed. The enzymes ALP, ALT, AST and LDH did not differ significantly within the tempeh groups. BT and ST had better protein quality than that of other tempeh, and the values of most traits for FT group were lowest. BT and ST appeared palatable, digestible, nutritive, safe and quite efficient for growth in rat bioassay.