Nutritional quality of yam (Dioscorea dumetorum and D rotundata) flours for growing rats

The digestibility and metabolism of diets based on flours prepared from raw, boiled or steamed tubers of the sweet yam (#Dioscorea dumetorum$) were evaluated in growing albino rats by the balance method in comparison with diets containing similar flours from the popular white yam (#D. rotundata$). The results show that whatever their method of preparation, flours from #D. dumetorum$ promote higher growth rate and have higher nutritional value in the growing rat than corresponding #D. rotundata$ flours. This can be attributed to the good digestibility of #D. dumetorum$ starch which facilitates digestibility and absorption of nitrogen and other nutrients. Moisture-heat treatment of tubers before processing into flour improves the nutritional value, especially for #D. rotundata$. (Résumé d'auteur