EVALUATION OF NUTRITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT PULSE CHUNNIES USING NEAR INFRARED REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY AND ITS VALIDATION WITH WET CHEMISTRY ANALYSIS

Nutritional evaluation of different pulse chunnies was carried using Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) and validated with wet analysis for inclusion in livestock feeds. The portable NIRS spectrophotometer FOSS XDS RCA and FOSS 6500 chemometrics software were used for the study. A total of 324 samples of four pulse chunnies (red gram (RGC), green gram (GGC), black gram (BLGC) and bengal gram (BGC)) were assessed using NIRS. It revealed that RGC had significantly (P<0.01) highest DM content than other three samples. The mean CP content was highest (P<0.01) in GGC and lowest in BGC and significantly (P<0.01) higher ether extract (EE) was recorded in BLGC and RGC and lowest in BGC samples. The ash content was significantly (P<0.01) highest in BLGC and lowest in RGC samples. Neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) contents were higher (P<0.01) in BGC and lower in GGC samples. Wet analysis shown, the DM content did not differ (P>0.05) among pulse chunni samples, while significantly (P<0.01) higher organic matter was recorded in RGC and lowest in BLGC samples. The CP was higher (P<0.01) in BLGC and lower in BGC and significantly (P<0.01) highest crude fibre recorded for BGC, RGC and was lowest in BLGC and GGC samples. Highest (P<0.05) EE was observed in BLGC while lowest in BGC. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in nitrogen free extract among pulse chunnies, while ash content was significantly (P<0.01) higher in BLGC and lower in RGC samples. NDF, ADF and ADL were significantly (P<0.01) higher in BGC and lower in GGC samples. The study concludes that the NIRS technique can be used to screen large number of samples in lesser time for using them in livestock feed formulations as there is a high correlation between NIRS and conventional feed analysis.