Studies on Medicago lupulina saponins. 3. Effect of M. Iupulina saponins on the growth and feed utilization by mice

Abstract

The effect of M. lupulina saponins on the growth of mice and feed utilization was investigated. The nutritive value of diets containing different amounts of M. lupulina meal or saponins was evaluated using a diet containing clover meal as the control. Feeding expermients revealed that M. lupulina meal in concentrations higher than 5% in the diet caused significant growth depression in mice. The diet containing 30% M. lupulina meal was toxic to mice. It was shown that the fraction of saponins which contains medicagenic acid glycosides was responsible for the antinutritional properties of M. lupulina meal. The diet containing more than 0.1% of toxic M. lupulina saponins caused significant growth depression in experimental mice. A high dose of those saponins in the diet (0.5%, 'had a large inhibitory effect on mause growth and feed utilization.