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L-Canavanine Influences Feed Intake, Plasma Basic Amino Acid Concentrations and Kidney Arginase Activity in Chicks^{1, 2, 3,}

Departamento de Ciencias Fisiológicas y ^* Producción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado 4563, Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela

L-Canavanine [2-amino-4-(guanidinooxy) butyric acid], a non-protein amino acid that is structurally analogous to arginine, has been proposed as a major antinutritional factor responsible for the toxic effects induced by raw Canavalia ensiformis (L.) seeds in chicks. We investigated the effects of L-canavanine on performance and select metabolic responses of growing chicks. Canavanine was added to a control diet, in an amount equivalent to that provided by 300 g raw canavalia seeds/kg diet (10 g free base canavanine/kg diet). Growth, plasma basic amino acids and kidney arginase activity were measured. The incorporation of canavanine into a nutritionally balanced diet for growing chicks depressed feed intake and growth by 25% (P < 0.01) compared with the control diet. Performance was unaffected by equimolar amounts of arginine. Canavanine exerted its growth-depressing effect exclusively by reducing feed intake, because this effect was not observed in a pair-feeding experiment. Chicks fed a diet containing 473 mmol canavanine sulfate/kg for 11 d were given an intracrop dose of 946 mmol of canavanine sulfate or arginine hydrochloride. In both cases, plasma histidine and lysine concentrations were significantly decreased compared with a placebo group dosed with water. Plasma arginine concentration was unaffected by the canavanine sulfate dose but, as expected, was significantly increased by the arginine hydrochloride dose. Free base canavanine significantly (P < 0.05) reduced kidney arginase activity. No overt toxic effects were observed at any point during the study. These data indicate that, although canavanine is not the principal antinutritional factor in Canavalia ensiformis seeds, its presence in the diet precludes optimum performance of chicks.

KEY WORDS: • L-canavanine • kidney arginase • Canavalia ensiformis • chicks • basic amino acids

¹ Presented in part at the First International Workshop on "Potential and Constraints of Canavalia ensiformis (L.) D.C. in Animal Feeding," June 24–27, 1991, Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela.

² Supported by grants from the International Foundation for Science (IFS-B 1419-1), Consejo de Desarrollo Cientifico y Humanìstico de la Universidad Central de Venezuela (C.V.11.1.86) and from the Fundación Polar, Caracas, Venezuela.

³ The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

⁴ To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed.

Manuscript received 18 February 1993. Revision accepted 26 January 1994.

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