The present stucly rvas carried o'.it b1 using Al-Ban (Ai--Yasser) l,Ioringa peregt'lno seccis iti which prcteirl based products wei"e prepared. 'rhe prr:teirr pe1ccrltiagcs in AL-Ban defatted flour (DF). protein cotlccilifaLe {PCt ancl prolein isolate fPI} r*,ere -<9.7-61 .3 and 80.rJ'l o. fc:.perlti\ e l.\ . , \rlti-rlutritiortal lactors (protcase inhibitcrrs. phlric re id arld tatlrlitir);iere calculated. Trypsin inhibir'rr' acri\.irics oi Dl:. PC ar..,.l Pl *ere I1.1). f .il anr.i 6.8-{

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... bri"r urriLntg protcin. rr-cpecii\cly. \\ fiile ph1'tic acid ievcls. iti tlte sante prodLrcts *cie i.9tl. i.9l and 1.8194. iespectir'elt-Soakirrg ol'A [--ban seeds in uater iollo*ed b.i, irtiiling ct'fectir,'r-ly reduced trypsin inliibitor and phitic acid ie veis. Arscnic (<0.30pgig)' rnercury (<89lig'g.) and lead 1<0.25pg'gi rvere lt'rutrd in r\L-Ban seeds' Mice used for-biological eYaiu;rtiL,'11 of AL-tlar.r secd pmtein were devided in ten groups. Irive grolips of rnicc reccived dicts contaitring, A: heat irealecl FI; B: ritiakett boilerj ('10 rnin.) and defatted AL-Ban seeds: C: soaked. boiled (60 min.) and defatted seeds: D: soaked, boiled (60 rnin.) and defatted seeds 0.4% l1'sine; E: rvhole egg (reference group). 'lhe resLrlts shorred that mice in these groups (A -E) rvere itillalive duripg the erperirnelt period, except t\\o tnice in group A. Protsin efticiency ratiii (llER) values for mice in groLrp A' B. C' D and E rvcre: -0.1. 0 .19.0.57. 1 .42 and 2.39" respectively. Protcitr -11r-11-) testabilit) valucs lbr mice in thc sante grrups *'ere: 65.12.68.12. 70.36. 12.36 and 80.96%, respcctive[1. Liver sections o1'nrice in urcLrp A,B.C,and D slrorved the presence of inf'lammatory cells. edema, abscess and liver cilrhosis (group Al. I-lie dalnage to iircr tissues^ rveighL ioss and decrease in Pt-rR and protein digestitiilrn vaiues in rnice rna.v be due to thc presertce of toxic elerncnts and anti-nutrilional factors itr Al-llan seeds. Key wrtrk: anlinitrrit;nai fitctcrs, lloringe stcrtgrina, seetl itrttit'irt. !ttv it,: l,' ri it tt i.s. l.INTR.ODUCTION Moringc peregrina is a perennial plant, of the fan:ily Moringaceae found in tropical and sub-trcpical zones of the world. The plant is distributed in the North and South Hijaz areas of Saudi Arabia and locally called Al-Ban or Al-Yassar (Al-Yahya, et al.. 1990). Al-Ban seeds are eharacterized by having a liigh content of oil (.52%) and protein {29.2%) and the defatted flour of the seeri has a protein content of 53.8%. The protein of Al-Ban seeds contains a fair arnount of, all essential arnino acids, but deficient in lysine (A1-Hussain and Abu-Tarboush, 1997). Because of its good contents of oil and protein; Al-Ban seed rendered itself to fufther investigations in purpose of using the seed products as fbod ingredients. A1-Klratani and Abu-Arab (1993) prepaled a concentrate (61.4% protein) and an isolate {98.q% protein) from Al-tsan seed defatted flour, and tirese products showed good functionaliry. The presence of anti-nutritional factors (e.g. protease inliibitors, tanirins and phytates) in Al-Ban seed vras confirmed by Al-Khatani (1995) . Al-Hussain and Abu-Tarboush (1997) stated that protease inhibitcr activities in Ai-Ban seed are lower lr vilro pratein digestibility and calculated protein efficiency ratio (C-FER) values. The presence of toxic elements, (e.9. hear.y metals) at high doses in food and feed stuffs, affects nutrient utilization and biosynthesis due to the damage caused to body organs particularly the liver (Berman, 1980; Siewicki, 1981). No data on biological evaluation of Al-Ban seed protein r,vere reported. The aim ol'the present study was to evaluate the presence of anti-nutritional factors (protease inhibitors, tannins