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Nutritional responses in albino rats on diets containing different leaf proteins at 1.6% nitrogen (N) were studied. From the data on 4-week growth and protein efficiency ratio (PER), leaf proteins from 19 different plant species were placed in 4 different categories: (1) 5 of no food value, causing loss or negligible gain in weight of rats; (2) 6 of poor quality, inducing a weight gain of less than 15 g with a PER below 1.0; (3) 3 of medium quality, inducing a weight gain of 20-35 g with PER of 1.3-1.75; and (4) 5 of good quality, inducing a weight gain of more than 40 g with a PER greater than 1.75. The last 5, all of them cruciferous leaf proteins, were nutritionally 66% as efficient as skim milk powder (SMP). The apparent digestibility ( D ) and true digestibility (TD) values, from experiments with either young and growing or adult rats, were close to each other for the medium and good quality categories of leaf proteins. The values differed considerably for the poor quality leaf proteins and were lower than those for good quality leaf proteins. The TD values for carrot, beetroot, lucerne and cauliflower leaf proteins in adult rats were around 40,74, 87 and 89 %, respectively, with that for SMP about 90 %.The biological values ( S V ) were in a narrower range than the TD, falling between 70 and 77 in growing rats and between 55 and 59 in adults.A pre-extraction wash of carrot vegetation decreased the ash content in extracted leaf protein, greatly enhanced its digestibility without changing its SV, while a hot acid wash of the heat coagulated leaf protein caused some improvement in BVbut nonein digestibility. Among different leaf proteins, thenutritional inferiority was also associated with reduced diet intake, suggesting adverse acceptability factors. Various analyses suggested that the likely factors, singly or in combination affecting the quality of leaf proteins adversely, were associated with the occurrence of low N, high ash, high soluble solids, high pheno1ic:N ratios, and/or low organic sulphur: N ratios.

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Shoot cultures from meristem explants of three cultivars of banana, 'Cavendish', 'Bluggoe' and 'Silk' were established on Murashige and Skoog medium with 8.9 ~tM benzyladenine and 0.98 laM indolebutyric acid. Different types of media, such as agar-gelled, agitated liquid and static liquid, were assessed for their ability to support shoot multiplication and ex vitro survival. Liquid media were found better for shoot multiplication whereas agar-gelled medium supported maximum ex vitro survival. For maximum plantlet production, growing in static liquid medium followed by a brief culture on agar-gelled medium has been suggested.

Nitrogen solubility, fat and water absorption capacity, bulk density, foam capacity and stability, and emulsification capacity of raw linseed meal (LM) and water-boiled linseed meal (WB) were determined and compared with those of defatted soybean meal (SM). Water boiling reduced the nitrogen solubility of linseed meal in water, NaCl, and sodium hexametaphosphate. The water absorption capacity of LM was 345 g compared to 443 g of WB whereas the fat absorption capacity of LM and WB was 236 and 167 g/100 g of flour, respectively. On the other hand, SM exhibited lower water (305 g) and fat absorption (167 g) than LM. SM showed higher foam capacity and emulsification capacity than LM. The foam stability of LM was better than that of SM. Heat processing diminished the foam capacity and stability and emulsification capacity of linseed meal.