Cotyledons and hulls were prepared from twelve varieties of field beans (Vicia faba L.). Adult cockerels were tube-fed either beans, cotyledons or hull diets containing high or low levels of protein. Metabolizable energy coefficients and starch digestibility coefficients were determined for beans, cotyledons and hull diets. Lipid digestibility coefficients from hull diets were also determined. When cotyledons were fed there were no significant differences in the way in which adult cockerels metabolized energy or digested starch from the proanthocyanidin-free and proanthocyanidin-rich varieties (0·780, 0·908, 0·775 and 0·918 respectively). When beans were fed, however, both energy metabolizability and starch digestibility decreased due to the presence of hulls, with proanthocyanidin-rich hulls decreasing values the most to 0·660 and 0·819 respectively, and proanthocyanidin-free hulls decreasing values to a lesser extent to 0·709 and 0·886 respectively. Diets composed of proanthocyanidin-rich hulls depressed metabolizable energy and maize starch digestibility. Their effect on maize starch digestibility, however, was considerably less than that on bean starch. Lipid digestibility was enhanced by proanthocyanidins but only when the protein content of the diet was high. There was a significant correlation (P < 0·05) between the vanillin and anthocyanidin formation methods for the estimation of proanthocyanidins (r 0·779). There was also a highly significant regression of bean starch digestibility v. proanthocyanidin content of coloured-flowered bean hulls (P < 0·001). The regression of maize starch digestibility v. hull proanthocyanidins was also significant at P < 0·005.
