Natural Fermentation of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) Flour Improves the Nutritive Utilization of Indispensable Amino Acids and Phosphorus by Growing Rats Kapravelou, Garyfallia Martínez Martínez, Rosario Martino, Jole Porres Foulquie, Jesús María Fernández-Fígares Ibáñez, Ignacio Vigna unguiculata Fermentation Digestibility Amino acids Mineral bioavailability Rats Limitations of the Study: This in vivo study was conducted in rats. It should be validated in humans to fully explore the nutritional potential of the biotechnological treatment implemented. In addition, a control group with autoclaved non-fermented Vigna unguiculata was not included since the principal focus of the experiment was given to natural fermentation. The authors are indebted to Encarnación Rebollo for excellent technical assistance. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is among the most cultivated legumes, with interesting agronomic and environmental properties, and great potential as a nutritious food. The nutritional value of cowpea can be improved by technological processing. In this study, we showed that natural fermentation improved bioavailability of protein, amino acids, and dietary essential minerals from cowpea in growing rats, thus strengthening its potential value as functional food or food supplement. Forty Wistar albino rats (48 ± 1.8 g), were fed one of four experimental diets (n = 10 rats per diet): casein, raw cowpea, fermented cowpea or fermented and autoclaved cowpea. Despite lower growth indices of raw and fermented cowpea protein (PER, FTI) than casein, fermentation enhanced apparent digestibility of arginine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and valine, and true digestibility of essential amino acids, except for tyrosine and valine, compared to raw cowpea. On the other hand, autoclaving of fermented cowpea flour decreased apparent, as did true digestibility of sulfur amino acids. Regarding the nutritive utilization of dietary essential minerals, Vigna unguiculata was a good source of available P, Mg, and K, while fermentation significantly improved the availability of P. Overall, cowpea was a good source of digestible essential amino acids and minerals and fermentation significantly improved its nutritional value that was not further enhanced by autoclaving. 2020-11-23T13:24:20Z 2020-11-23T13:24:20Z 2020-07-23 journal article Kapravelou, G.; Martínez, R.; Martino, J.; Porres, J.M.; Fernández-Fígares, I. Natural Fermentation of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) Flour Improves the Nutritive Utilization of Indispensable Amino Acids and Phosphorus by Growing Rats. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2186. [doi:10.3390/nu12082186] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/64454 10.3390/nu12082186 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access Atribución 3.0 España MDPI