Impacts of Different Processes on the Nutritional and Antinutritional Contents of White and Blue Lupin Seeds and Usage Possibilities for Sustainable Poultry Production

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The search for alternative raw feed materials that can contribute to the solution of many different problems—such as meeting the food needs of people, soil quality, ecological sustainability, increasing profitability in animal production, positively affecting the quality of animal products, and revealing the nutritional content of these alternative raw materials—is an important challenge. Revealing the possibilities of using these alternative raw materials in animal nutrition is becoming increasingly important for researchers, producers, consumers, and our planet. Lupin seeds might be perceived from these perspectives as a quality raw plant material that contains high amounts of protein, fat, fiber, phenolic compounds, phytosterol, beta-carotene, antioxidant, tocopherol, oleic acid, linoleic acid, carbohydrate, oligosaccharide, calcium, iron, phosphorus, and vitamin E. The possible downsides of lupin seeds might be quinolizidine alkaloid, raffinose family oligosaccharide (such as raffinose, stachyose, and verbascose), and non-starch polysaccharide contents, which act as antinutritional factors when consumed by poultry. In this study, germination and autoclaving processes were applied. Their effects were investigated in order to reduce the quinolizidine group’s alkaloids in lupin grains. We suggest that germination might enhance the usage ratios of lupin seeds in poultry diets and may lead to an increase in the profitability of poultry enterprises. ABSTRACT: In the current era, it is important to consider economic and ecological sustainability issues while optimally meeting the nutrient needs of poultry. The use and research of alternative feedstuffs have gained importance due to these factors. The aim of this study is to reveal the raw lupin seeds’ nutrient ingredients as an alternative feedstuff and the effects of debittering methods. In the present study, two different treatments (germination for 2 days; heat treatment in an autoclave at 130 °C for 20 min) were applied to white and blue lupin seeds, and the differences in nutrient compositions between them and raw seeds were determined. When fatty acid compositions were analyzed, oleic, γ-linolenic, arachidic, behenic, erucic, and lignoceric acid values were found to be the highest in the raw, autoclaved, and germinated forms of white lupin (p < 0.01). The highest values of palmitic, stearic, and linoleic acids were observed in blue lupin (p < 0.01). While the value of total quinolizidine alkaloids (QA) in raw white lupin grains was higher than 1.943 mg/g, it was higher than 1.800 mg/g in autoclaved and germination-treated grains. Similarly, the total QA value of raw blue lupin grains was 0.894 mg/g, 0.609 ± 0.244 mg/g in germination-treated seeds, and 0.705 ± 0.282 mg/g in autoclave-treated seeds. As a result of these findings, it can be said that the methods applied for the removal of bitterness gave promising results. Furthermore, it would be rewarding to use these lupin varieties in in vitro and in vivo experiments to reveal the impacts and mechanisms of debittering methods on poultry.