anti nutritive

Industrial Crops and Products 21 (2005) 89–99

Anti-nutritive constituents in oilseed crops from Italy

Bertrand Matthäusa,∗, Luciana G. Angelinib

a Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Food, Institute for Lipid Research, Piusallee 68/76, Münster 48147, Germanyb Dipartimento di Agronomia e Gestione dell’Agroecosistema, Università di Pisa, Via S. Michele degli Scalzi 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy

Received 21 February 2003; accepted 23 December 2003

Abstract

Eight different oilseed crops (Brassica carinata, Camelina sativa, Coriandrum sativum, Euphorbia lagascae, Lepidiumsativum, Lesquerella fendleri, Madia sativa, Vernonia galamensis) grown in Italy were investigated regarding anti-nutritivecompounds, such as glucosinolates, sinapine, inositol phosphates and condensed tannins, which can adversely affect the nutri-tional value of residues from the oilseed processing. In all seeds at least one anti-nutritive compound was found, which possiblycould lower the nutritive value, but in most cases a real negative effect is not to be expected. The existence and the concentrationof the different anti-nutritive components varied in the different seeds. Glucosinolates and sinapine were found only in seedsof B. carinata, L. sativum, C. sativa andL. fendleri, whereas condensed tannins and inositol phosphates appeared in all seeds.In the different seeds the amount ranged from 0.2 mg/g (L. fendleri) to 13.1 mg/g (L. sativum) for sinapine, from 0.4 mg/g (E.lagascae) to 19.6 mg/g (L. fendleri) for condensed tannins, from 6.6 mg/g (E. lagascae) to 23.1 mg/g (B. carinata) for inositolhexa-phosphate as well as from 18.7�mol/g (C. sativa) to 164.6�mol/g (L. sativum) for glucosinolates.© 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Anti-nutritive compounds; Condensed tannins; Glucosinolates; Inositol phosphates; Oilseeds; Sinapine

1. Introduction

In the last three decades a number of new oilseedcrops have been introduced on the market providingthe industry with new or unusual fatty acids, such asfatty acids with hydroxy or epoxy groups (Mikolajczaket al., 1961; Abbott et al., 1997; Princen andRothfus, 1984; Haumann, 1991; Bramm and Rühl,1996). These fatty acids are used as ingredients inthe production of a huge number of products such aspaints and coatings, detergents, cosmetics, lubricants,

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.:+49-251-48167-14;fax: +49-251-519275.

E-mail address: [email protected] (B. Matthäus).

flavours or biodegradable polymers (Muuse et al.,1992; Watkins, 1999).

One important point for the introduction of a newindustrial oil crop is according to views of Röbbelen,that the companies have to find new end-markets fortheir new products (Haumann, 1991), but another pointis that it is absolutely necessary to find also an ade-quate utilisation for the residue of the oil-pressing pro-cess on the market (Steg et al., 1994). Oil and residueare strongly tied together, so that the success of an oilcrop depends on the utilisation of both products.

The residue of the oil-pressing process can be usedas fuel for power stations, but from an economicalpoint of view this residue should be used in the diet ofanimals to get a better commercial exploitation of the

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90 B. Matthäus, L.G. Angelini / Industrial Crops and Products 21 (2005) 89–99

agricultural product (Steg et al., 1994). For an effectiveorganisation of the oil-pressing process it is necessaryto supply the valuable press cake to an utilization withan added value.

Several press cakes of commercially used oilseedcrops provide an excellent potential source of pro-tein supplement for the diet of animals, because theresidues are high in protein and additionally theyhave an interesting amino acid composition (Lennerts,1984; Niewiadomski, 1990). Unfortunately they alsocontain at least one anti-nutritional factor such asalkaloids, lectins, inositol phosphates, phenolic com-pounds, glucosinolates or trypsin inhibitors, whichlower the nutritive value of the residues and limitthe application of the residues in human or animalnutrition (Duncan, 1991; Goh et al., 1979; Singleton,1981). While condensed tannins and inositol phos-phates can be found in almost all plant seeds indifferent concentrations, some of these anti-nutritivecomponents are typical of specific plant families orgenus. Glucosinolates are a chemotaxonomic fea-ture of seeds belonging to the family Brassicaceae,whereas lectins are found above all in legumes, butalso in potatoes, wheatgerms or castor. Another im-portant group of anti-nutritive components are trypsininhibitors, which are able to inhibit the activity ofcertain enzymes responsible for the degradation ofproteins during digestion. These inhibitors are charac-teristic of pumpkin, but also of potatoes and legumes(Holak et al., 1989).

During the oil-pressing process some of theseanti-nutritive components, such as inositol phosphatesor sinapine remain in the residue and depending on theloss of oil an accumulation of these compounds takesplace (Matthäus and Zubr, 2000). On the other sideit is also possible that oil-soluble substances partiallydisappear from the seed material with the extractedoil, resulting in a reduction of these compounds in theresidue. The content of condensed tannins in seeds ofCamelina sativa was reduced by about 30–60% dur-ing the pressing process (Matthäus and Zubr, 2000).

For the assessment of the applicability of theresidues in diets of animals the knowledge of the na-ture and quantity of anti-nutritive compounds in theseeds is very important. Only then it is possible to as-sign certain effects on the animals after feeding withthe residues to the composition of the constituents ofthe oilseeds.

In literature only very little information about theoccurrence and the composition of anti-nutritive com-pounds in new oilseed crops is available. Most infor-mation, if any, deals with anti-nutritive compounds inresidues of usually used oilseeds, such as rapeseed orsunflower seeds. Unfortunately the data are also scat-tered in works ofBouchereau et al. (1991); Dabrowskiand Sosulski, (1984); Daxenbichler et al., 1991andno coherent work is available which investigates thecontent of different anti-nutritive compounds in oneexamination.

Therefore the aim of this work was to evaluate someoilseed crops grown in Italy regarding anti-nutritiveconstituents apparently important for the applicabilityof the residues as a potential feed ingredient.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Materials

Eight oilseed species,Brassica carinata, Camelinasativa, Coriandrum sativum, Euphorbia lagascae, Le-pidium sativum, Lesquerella fendleri, Madia sativa,Vernonia galamensis, were assembled in a germplasmcollection and evaluated under field conditions at theExperimental Centre of Rottaia (Pisa, Central Italy,43◦ 40′N.; 10◦ 19′E.). Some accessions were pro-vided by the Regional Plant Introduction Station ofAmes, Iowa (USA) and others were received from dif-ferent European Botanical Gardens. The largest partof these accessions included undomesticated forms(Table 1).

Seeds of each species were sown in a cold green-house in March/April, and the resulting 3-week-oldplants were transplanted to deep silt loam soil (clay18%, silt 66%, sand 16%, total nitrogen 1.1%,pH = 7.7, and organic matter 2.2%). Seedlings ofeach species were planted in small plots of 6 m2,with inter-row and inter-plant spacing of 0.5 m and0.1 m, respectively. ForEuphorbia lagascae andVer-nonia galamensis an inter-plant spacing of 0.3 m wasadopted. Fertilizer was applied at soil preparation, atrates of 100/100/100 kg ha−1 of N/P/K. Plots werekept weed-free by hand hoeing.

Seeds were harvested manually at full maturity andthen seeds were forced-air dried (30◦C) in a ventilatedchamber until 10% seed humidity was reached.

B. Matthäus, L.G. Angelini / Industrial Crops and Products 21 (2005) 89–99 91

Table 1List of source and origin of samples

Species Source Origin Code

Brassica carinata L. L079444 Ethiopia BC

Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz. IGK Gattersleben Germany CAMB.G. Frankfurt and Main Germany CAMB.G. Poland Poland CAMB.G. Russia Russia CAMB.G. Russia Russia CAMB.G. Sweden Sweden CAMB.G. Sweden Sweden CAMUSDA-ARS USA CAM

Coriandrum sativum L.var. sativum SAIS SeedCo. Italy CORC. sativum L. var. microcarpum B.G. Gatersleben Germany COR

Euphorbia lagasca USDA-ARSPI296064 Spain EUUSDA-ARSPI308128 Spain EU

Lepidium sativum L. SAIS SeedCo. Italy LE

Lesquerella fendleri (Gray) Wats. USDA-ARS USA FEUSDA-ARSPI279649 USA FE

Madia sativa Molina B.G. Gatersleben Germany MADB.G. Frankfurt and Main Germany MAD

Vernonia galamensis subsp.galamensis Israel VEvar. ethiopicaV. galamensis subsp. afromontana USDA-ARSPI500003 Kenya VE

B.G indicates botanic garden. The pin number is the USA Genetic Resource Centre Storage number.

2.2. Determination of sinapine

The determination of sinapine was performedaccording to a modified method ofClausen et al.(1983) under isocratic conditions as described byClausen et al. (1985). The extraction of sinapinefrom 2.00 g of grinded seed material was achievedwith 70% methanol as recommended byBjerg et al.(1984). The extract of was evaporated to dryness,diluted in water and centrifuged. The centrifuga-tion was carried out for 10 min at room temperaturewith 4500 g. Then 20�l of the solution was injectedonto a LiChrospher 60 RP-select B column (5�m)125× 4 mm (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) used witha flow rate of 1.0 ml/min without further purification.The mobile phase consisted of 0.01 M sodium hep-tanesulphonic acid (Fluka, Taufkirchen, Germany),0.01 M sodium dihydrogenphosphate and 0.01 Mdibutylamine in acetonitrile/water (2:8) at pH= 2.0.The UV-detector was set at 325 nm. Calibration andevaluation of the method was made using sinapine

thiocyanate, isolated from a rapeseed sample as de-scribed by Kerber and Buchloh (Kerber and Buchloh,1980). In brief, after extraction of grinded rapeseedby ethanol, sinapine was precipitated by a solution of10% potassium thiocyanate and then the raw materialwas recrystallised two to four times with hot ethanol(96%).

2.3. Determination of inositol hexa-phosphate andits degradation products

Phytic acid and its degradation products inositol(penta-phosphate, tetra-phosphate and tri-phosphate)were determined by HPLC as described byMatthäuset al. (1995).

The grinded seed material (0.30 g) was defatted by20 ml of petroleum ether and the air-dried residue wasextracted with 0.5 M HCl at 90◦C to isolate the in-ositol phosphates. Afterwards the extract was passedthrough an anion exchange column (Dowex 1× 2(Fluka, Taufkirchen, Germany)), where the inositol


phosphates were retained. The column was washedwith a solution of sodium chloride and water to re-move impurities and then the inositol phosphates wereeluted with 2 M HCl. The eluate was evaporated todryness and redissolved in 1 ml water. This solutionwas used for HPLC, whereas the inositol phosphateswere detected by RI-detector. Samples of 10�l wereinjected onto a LiChrospher 60 RP-select B (5�m)125× 4 mm (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) used witha flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The mobile phase used con-sisted of 500 ml water, 500 ml methanol and 22.5 ]/ltetrabutylammonium hydroxide (Fluka, Taufkirchen,Germany) adjusted with 9 M H2SO4 at pH 4.3.

2.4. Determination of condensed tannins

The determination of condensed tannins or itsmonomeric components was carried out as describedby Price et al. (1978)andButler et al. (1982). Afterdefatting of 2.00 g grinded seed material by 20 mlpetroleum ether, the samples were extracted with70% (v/v) acetone, the extracts carefully evaporatedto dryness and then dissolved in 10 ml methanol. Onemillilitre of this extract was mixed with 5 ml of thevanillin reagent consisting of 4% concentrated HCland 0.5% vanillin in methanol. The reaction time was20 min in the dark and the absorbance was read at500 nm. As standard substance (+)-catechin was usedfor calculating the level of condensed tannins in thesamples.

2.5. Determination of desulfoglucosinolates

Desulfoglucosinolates were determined as de-scribed byFiebig and Jörden (1990). Sample extrac-tion of 0.200 g grinded seed material was carried outwith 70% (v/v) methanol at 75◦C for 10 min twice un-der ultrasonic treatment. The crude extract (1 ml) wasadded on the top of a SAX exchange column (LiChro-lut SAX 500 mg, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) andallowed to drain. The column was washed with waterand a sodium acetate buffer (1.3608 g sodium acetate× 3 H2O/500 ml water adjusted to pH= 4.0 by aceticacid). A sulphatase solution (10.0 mg sulfatase/25 mlwater) (Type H-1 from Helix pomatia; E.C. 3.1.6.1,Sigma–Aldrich Chemie GmbH, Taufkirchen, Ger-many) was added and allowed to remain on the col-umn overnight. Desulphoglucosinolates were eluted

with water from the column and this solution wasused for the HPLC on a LiChrospher 60 RP-select Bcolumn (5�m) 125× 4 mm (Merck, Darmstadt, Ger-many). Separation was performed by gradient elutionusing water (A) and 20% (v/v) acetonitrile in water(B). The solvent gradient changed according to thefollowing conditions: after 2.5 min with 95% (A) and5% (B) to 80% (A) and 20% (B) in 18 min. Theseconditions were held for 5 min and then changedto 95% (A) and 5% (B) in 2 min. The desulfoglu-cosinolates were detected at 229 nm with a variablewavelength UV-detector.

The analyses were performed with five replicates.The mean values and S.D. were calculated and testedusing the Student-t-test (P < 0.05). A statisticalanalysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on allvalues using the statistical program Statgrafics® Sta-tistical Graphics System version 4.0 (Statgraphics,1989).

3. Results and discussion

Eight different oilseeds were investigated regard-ing the content of sinapine, inositol phosphates, glu-cosinolates and condensed tannins, which lower thenutritive value of residues from the oilseed process-ing. The investigation was performed with the wholeseeds instead of the residues. But it should be kept inmind that during oilseed processing an accumulationof glucosinolates, sinapine and inositol phosphates inthe residue took place, because these compounds re-main in the residue, while the oil is removed from theseeds (Matthäus and Zubr, 2000). This accumulationdepends on the yield of oil during the oilseed pro-cessing and with the knowledge of this yield the re-sults could be converted. On the other hand condensedtannins will be extracted with the oil from the seeds,so that the amount in the residue will be decreased(Matthäus and Zubr, 2000).

FromL. sativum only one cultivar or genotype wasinvestigated, whereas from the other oilseeds at leasttwo cultivars or genotypes were available. InFigs. 1–4the results of the investigation are summarized and thevariations of the results of different cultivars or geno-types of one individual species are given as verticalblack lines.Table 1gives the sources and codes forall species tested in this investigation.


0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

BC CAM LE FECon

tent

of s

inap

ine

[mg/

g] (

calc

ulat

ed a

s si

napi

ne

thio

cyan

ate)

Fig. 1. Concentration of sinapine inB. carinata (BC), C. sativa (CAM), L. sativum (LE) and L. fendleri (FE). The vertical line on thebars shows the variation of the results of different cultivars or genotypes of each species.

3.1. Sinapine

In the present investigation sinapine was detectedin seeds ofB. carinata, C. sativa, L. fendleri andL. sativum. Seeds ofL. sativum contained the high-est amount of sinapine (13.2 mg/g), whereas in seedsof B. carinata and C. sativa not even a half of thisamount was found (5.9 mg/g and 4.0 mg/g, respec-tively) (Fig. 1). Seeds ofL. fendleri contained only

0

5

10

15

20

25

BC CAM COR EU LE FE MAD VE

Con

cent

ratio

n of

inos

itolp

enta

- an

d -h

exap

hosp

hate

(p

hytic

aci

d) [m

g/g]

inositol hexaphosphate

inositol pentaphosphate

Fig. 2. Concentration of inositol (penta- and hexa-phosphates) in different oilseeds. The vertical line on the bars shows the variation ofthe results of different cultivars or genotypes of each species. Codes for each crop are defined inTable 1.

traces of sinapine (0.2 mg/g). The values found forL.sativum, B. carinata and C. sativa were comparablewith contents of other common used oilseeds such asmustard (13 mg/g) and rapeseed (7 mg/g) (Matthäus,1997). However, seeds ofCrambe abyssinica, anothermember of the family Brassicaceae, consisted of only1 mg sinapine/g.

Sinapine is described as the bitter constituent of dif-ferent oilseeds belonging to the family Brassicaceae.


0

5

10

15

20

25

BC CAM COR EU LE FE MAD VECon

tent

of

cond

ense

d ta

nnin

s [m

g/g]

(ca

lcul

ated

as

cate

chin

)

Fig. 3. Concentration of condensed tannins in different oilseeds. The vertical line on the bars shows the variation of the results of differentcultivars or genotypes of each species.

This component is of special interest because of itsbitter taste and its responsibility for crabby or fishytaint notes in eggs from some brown-egg-layinghens (Butler et al., 1982; Fenwick et al., 1984) fedwith rapeseed meal. During the digestion sinapine ishydrolysed and the formed choline is converted totrimethylamine (TMA) by micro organisms (Pearsonet al., 1979). Traces of TMA go into the yolk.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Glu

cotr

opae

olin

Pro

goitr

in

Sin

igrin

Glu

cona

pin

4-H

ydro

.glu

cobr

.

Glu

cobr

assi

cin

MS

G-9

MS

G-1

0

MS

G-1

1

Glu

cotr

opae

olin

Glu

coib

erin

Con

tent

of

gluc

osin

olat

es [

µmol

/g]

BC CAM LE FE

Fig. 4. Concentration of different glucosinolates inB. carinata (BC), C. sativa (CAM), L. sativum (LE) and L. fendleri (FE). (10-MSG)is 10-methylsulfinyldecyl-Gls, (9-MSG) 9-methylsulfinylnonyl-Gls and (11-MSG) 11-methylsulfinylundecyl-Gls). The vertical line on thebars shows the variation of the results of different cultivars or genotypes of each species. Codes for each crop are defined inTable 1.

Some hens are unable to change TMA in odour-less TMA-oxid because of a reduced TMA-oxidase-activity, which results in stink eggs.

The occurrence of a “crabby” or “fishy” taint ofeggs is described for the use of rapeseed meal in thefodder of certain hens and an inclusion of more than1 g of sinapine/kg of laying ration caused eggs with afishy odour (Pearson et al., 1980; Goh et al., 1979).


For rapeseed an amount of about 7 mg sinapine/g wasfound (Matthäus, 1997). Therefore it could be ex-pected from the concentrations found in seeds ofB.carinata, C. sativa andL. sativum that an addition ofresidues of these seeds to a diet would result in a sim-ilar effect. For residues ofB. carinata and C. sativathis effect will be a little less pronounced than forL.sativum, which contained nearly double the amount asrapeseed. For all residues the part in the ratio has tobe limited to avoid a “fishy” taint of eggs.

3.2. Inositol phosphates

In all investigated seeds inositol phosphates in dif-ferent amounts were found (Fig. 2). The main partof inositol phosphates was contributed by inositolhexa-phosphate (phytic acid (IP6)), whereas the partof inositol penta-phosphate (IP5) normally consti-tutes less than 10% of the total inositol phosphates.Other degradation products of IP6 were not detected,which indicated that a greater degradation of inositolhexa-phosphate took not place.

The values for IP6 varied between 6.6 mg/g forE.lagascae and 23.1 mg/g forB. carinata. The amountof IP6 in most of the seeds was in a range between 10and 20 mg/g, only in seeds ofE. lagascae, L. fendleriandV. galamensis lower amounts were found.

The amount of IP6 found in seeds ofC. sativa, C.sativum, L. sativum and M. sativa was comparablewith the amount found in rapeseed (17.4 mg/g), whichis widely applied as constituent of fodder for animalnutrition.

Inositol hexa-phosphate represents the major stor-age form of phosphorus in plants. Both, in human andanimal nutrition this compound is responsible for dif-ferent anti-nutritive effects such as forming of insol-uble complexes with nutritionally important minerals(Fe, Zn, Mg and Ca). As a result of the strong chelat-ing properties phytic acid is able to interact with pro-teins or digestive enzymes (Thompson, 1990). Duringfood processing, storage and germination of seedsalso degradation products of phytic acid with fewerphosphate groups (IP5 to IP1) are formed by chemi-cally or enzymatically dephosphorylation. The abilityof these degradation products to form complexes withminerals or proteins is much smaller than that of IP6(Jackman and Black, 1951; Kaufman and Kleinberg,1971).

Additionally to the anti-nutritive effects of inositolphosphates it was shown in recent research that IP6prevents and possibly reverses carcinogenesis (Grafand Eaton, 1993; Shamsuddin, 1995), that it is consid-ered to work as a hypocholesterolemic agent (Jariwallaet al., 1990) and that it is able to prevent renal stoneformation (Sharma, 1986) as well as phytic acid hasantioxidative properties (Graf and Eaton, 1990).

From the amounts of inositol phosphates found inthe different seeds a concrete effect on the animals fedwith residues from these seeds can not be assumed.However, a worst availability of enzymes or mineralsas a result of the presence of inositol hexa-phosphateand its degradation products is conceivable.

3.3. Condensed tannins

All seeds contained condensed tannins, but only inseeds ofL. fendleri (19.5 mg/g),L. sativum (7.4 mg/g)andB. carinata (3.4 mg/g) higher amounts were found(Fig. 3). The content in the other seeds ranged be-tween 0.4 g/mg (E. lagascae) and 1.1 mg/g (C. sativa).Compared with other oilseeds the amounts of con-densed tannins in seeds ofL. fendleri andL. sativumwere remarkable high. In seeds from sunflower, mus-tard, rapeseed, crambe or soybeans the amounts variedbetween 0.1 (sunflower seeds) to 4 mg/g (rapeseed)(Matthäus, 1997).

Phenolic compounds such as phenolic acids or tan-nins represent a wide and diverse group of secondaryplant products. They can be found in a wide range ofplant species. Condensed tannins may be consideredas dimers or higher oligomers of variously substitutedflavan-3-ols. In oilseeds these compounds are mainlylocated in the seed coats.

Regarding the nutritive value of these componentsin animal nutrition, they represent potentially toxicdietary substances which can seriously lower the di-gestibility of feeds in nonruminants (Clandinin andRobblee, 1981; Martin-Tanguy et al., 1977) and ru-minants (Kumar and Singh, 1984). The anti-digestiveeffect was ascribed to reactions with proteins, en-zymes or essential amino acids after enzymatic ornon-enzymatic oxidation of the phenolics and theformation of various complexes. It was also foundthat the addition of extracted tannins from rapeseed,to soybean-containing diets for chicks resulted in areduction of its metabolisable energy, whereas the


absorption of protein was not affected (Yapar andClandinin, 1972).

The vanillin method, used in the present investiga-tion is specific for tannins that possess a single bond atthe 2,3-position of the pyran ring and free OH groupsat positions 5 and 7 of the benzene ring (Sarkar andHowarth, 1976). Additionally to tannins this reagentis known to react with some flavanols, dihydrochal-cones and anthocyanins, whereas the specificity ofthis method is much higher in comparison to differ-ent redox-based methods, such as the Folin–Dennismethod.

The total amount of condensed tannins in seedsof B. carinata, C. sativa, C. sativum, E. lagascae,M. sativa and V. galamensis was relatively low andtherefore only a small nutritive effect, if any, canbe expected. Higher amounts were found merely inseeds ofL. fendleri andL. sativum. This data indicatethat especially meal ofL. fendleri should be testedfor nutritional utilisation before it can be used as ananimal feed. Tannins are only seriously toxic whenconsumed in large amounts (more than 1% of thediet) (Singleton, 1981), but the tannin level necessaryfor rejection by grazing animals is about 20 mg/g ofdry matter (Kumar and Singh, 1984), which is com-parable with the amount found in seeds ofL. fendleri.

3.4. Glucosinolates

Only in seeds ofB. carinata, L. fendleri, L. sativumandC. sativa glucosinolates were found. The amountsand patterns of glucosinolates were very different(Fig. 4). The highest amount of glucosinolates wasfound in seeds ofL. sativum (164.6�mol/g), whereasseeds ofC. sativa andL. fendleri comprised only rel-atively small amounts (18.6 and 27.5�mol/g, respec-tively). Seeds ofB. carinata contained 77.1�mol/g.

While glucosinolates ofB. carinata consisted ofsix different compounds, seeds ofL. sativum andL. fendleri contained only one glucosinolate in ahigh amount. In these seeds glucotropaeolin andglucoiberin, respectively, were found as only glucosi-nolates. The main glucosinolate ofB. carinata wassinigrin with more than 90% of the total glucosino-lates. Seeds ofC. sativa comprised of three differentglucosinolates. The distribution of glucosinolateswas a little more well-balanced. Glucocamelinin(10-methylsulfinyldecyl-Gls i.e. 10-MSG) was the

main glucosinolate by about 60% of the total glucosi-nolates, whereas 9-methylsulfinylnonyl-Gls (9-MSG)and 11-methylsulfinylundecyl-Gls (11-MSG) came toabout 30 and 10%, respectively.

These values found in the different seeds were com-parable to other investigations.Daxenbichler et al.(1991)described similar amounts of glucosinolates inB. carinata (111�mol/g), C. sativa (38�mol/g), L.fendleri (70�mol/g) andL. sativum (127�mol/g).

In comparison to other oilseeds such as crambeor mustard (115 and 130�mol/g, respectively) theamounts found inC. sativa or L. fendleri were low,whereas the content of glucosinolates found inB. cari-nata andL. sativum was comparable to levels reportedon crambe and mustard. The content of glucosinolatesfound in C. sativa andL. fendleri was comparable toamounts found in rapeseed.

Glucosinolates are natural substances, which canbe found in many plants and vegetables. These com-pounds are especially widespread in the family ofBrassicaceae. More than 100 different glucosino-lates are known (Kjaer and Skrydstrup, 1987). Theyare relatively non-toxic (Bell, 1984), but glucosino-lates gain importance from the fact that the productsof a myrosinase (thioglucoside glucohydrolase (EC3.2.3.1)) induced degradation adversely affect animalgrowth, reproductive performance as well as intakeand palatability of fodder. Degradation products alsocause goitre and abnormalities in internal organs ofanimals (Mawson et al.,1994a,b; Singleton, 1981;Griffiths, 1989; Thompson, 1990). On the other handit is known that glucosinolates are responsible forthe anticarcinogenic activity of Brassica vegetables(Mithen et al., 2000; Uhl et al., 2001).

From a nutritional point of view the compositionof glucosinolates is important for the assessment ofthe glucosinolates, because the effects resulting fromthe presence of glucosinolates depend on the natureof the breakdown products, after degradation andabsorption. Depending on the conditions, if the for-mation of nitriles predominates, this results in liverand kidney damage (VanEtten et al., 1966; Nishieand Daxenbichler, 1980), whereas oxazolidines areformed from high levels of�-hydroxy substitutedaliphatic glucosinolates such as progoitrin, affectingthe organic iodination of thyroxine in the biosynthe-sis of tyroid hormones. Low iodine availability in thediet in combination with high levels of thiocyanate


ions from the degradation of glucosinolates un-der acidic conditions will cause goitrogenic effects(Mawson et al.,1994a,b). Investigations ofNishie andDaxenbichler, 1980had shown that the toxicity ofshort-chain sulfinyl-glucosinolates like glucoiberinwas comparable to the toxicity of sinigrin or pro-goitrin. Glucosinolates with longer side-chains shouldhave a smaller effect (Schumann and Stölken, 1996).Thus, the effect of glucosinolates fromC. sativa couldbe considered as comparable or rather smaller thanthe effect of glucosinolates from rapeseed products.This is different toB. carinata andL. fendleri whichcontain short-chain glucosinolates such as sinigrin orglucoiberin in high amounts.

The glucosinolate content of seeds fromL. fendleriandC. sativa, but especially fromB. carinata andL.sativum indicates that the use of residues from theseoilseeds is strongly limited. There are different stud-ies showing that a high amount of glucosinolates isresponsible for growth depression, reduced food in-take or enlargement of the thyroid (Fenwick et al.,1989; Pusztai, 1989). For example, at a concentrationof 36.6�mol glucosinolates/g a reduction of the foodintake by 45% took place (Pusztai, 1989). In L. fend-leri and C. sativa the amount of glucosinolates wascomparable to the amount found in rapeseed, so withregard to this class of compounds the use of suchresidues should be comparable. It looks different forresidues fromB. carinata andL. sativum, which con-tained three- to nine-fold higher amounts of glucosi-nolates. This leads to the assumption that the use ofthese residues is questionable.

4. Conclusions

All seeds included in this investigation containedat least one anti-nutritive compound with possible ad-verse effects on living organisms, but in most cases areal negative influence is hardly to be expected fromthe use of the residues as fodder in animal nutrition.Only the composition of seeds fromL. fendleri indi-cated that the use of this residue as fodder could re-sult in negative effects, because of the high level ofglucosinolates and condensed tannins.

Regarding the content of glucosinolates it is to beexpected that it may not be possible to add unlimitedamounts of residues fromL. fendleri, C. sativa, B.

carinata as well asL. sativum to the fodder of animals.As in the case of rapeseed the admixture have to belimited to certain amounts. A further factor that limitsthe use of residues fromC. sativa, B. carinata andL. sativum is the presence of sinapine in remarkableamounts.

For all the seeds certain interactions between phyticacid and condensed tannins on the one hand, andprotein and minerals on the other hand can resultin a lower bioavailability of important nutritive com-pounds.

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