Effect of partial replacement of fat in sausage diet with different flours at 5%, 10% and 15% level of inclusion on performance, hematological and serum biochemistry of wistar albino rat
Authors: D Oshibanjo Olusegun , B Akinfolarin , Adesope Idowu , Abegunde Lawrence , Atang Iliya Izang 
Published: March 2023

The demand for functional meats with reduced Animal Fat (AF) has increased globally. Chronic health disorders are often associated with high levels of dietary AF in meat products such as beef sausage (BS). Functional beef sausage (FBS) could be produced with alternative flours as replacer for AF. Effect of partial replacement of fat in sausage diet with different flours at 5%, 10% and 15% level of inclusion on performance, hematological and serum biochemistry of Wister albino rat was evaluated. The BS (g/100g: beef 65.0, lard 20.0, sodium chloride (SC) 2.0, others 13.0) was used. The FBS were developed using Wheat flour (WF), Irish potato flour (IPF) or corn flour (CF) at 5%, 10% and 15% to replace fat (lard) in beef sausage recipe. Functional properties of the flour were carried out using standard procedure. 60 weaned male albino rats (Wister strain) weighing between 60 - 62g were purchased. The rats were allotted to 12 dietary treatments with 6 rats per treatment in a completely randomised design. The study lasted 21 days and changes in their body weight were recorded. Feed Intake (FI), Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), Protein Intake (PI) and Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) were calculated. At the end of the feeding period, the animals were fasted of feed for 12 hours before blood samples were collected for hematological and serum biochemical analysis. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at α0.05.Irish potato flour was significantly higher in bulk density, oil retention, foaming capacity, oil absorption capacity and emulsion activities compared to other flours. Corn flour was statistically higher (P<0.05) in water retention, foam stability and water absorption capacity. Significant differences (P<0.05) were observed in all the hematological indices except for red blood cell which had similar values (P>0.05). However, there were no consistent trend observed in white blood cell count and its differential counts, which were rather fluctuating. Rats fed Irish potato based sausage had the highest Alanine Amino transferase (ALT) value while rats fed wheat based sausage diet had the lowest ALT of 11.87i.u/L. The Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) assay of rats reveals that rats fed casein-based diet and lard-based sausage had the highest AST values of 7.30i.u/L each with least AST in rats fed protein deficient diet. The urea value for rats on the casein-based diet was the highest (45.29 mg/dL) with least value in rats fed corn-based sausage diet. Rats fed wheat-based sausage had the highest cholesterol (107.97mg/dL), while corn-based sausage had the lowest cholesterol value of 56.16 mg/dL. Corn based breakfast sausage diet was higher (P<0.05) in protein efficiency ratio with least score in protein deficient diet. Corn-based sausage had the highest biological value (95.68) with protein deficient diet having the least value (15.49).It was observed that rats fed corn-based breakfast sausage had the highest gained weight of 27g, while rats fed non-protein diet had the lowest weight change of -11g. Replacement of animal fat with corn flour at 10% enhanced better growth performance, hematological and serum biochemistry.