Differences in Microbial Activities of Faeces from Weaned and Unweaned Pigs in Relation to In vitro Fermentation of Different Sources of Inulin-type Oligofructose and Pig Feed Ingredients

Abstract

An in vitro experiment was conducted to evaluate the differences in microbial activity of five faecal inocula from weaned pigs and one faecal inoculum from unweaned pigs in combination with 6 substrates. The substrates tested were negative control diet, corn, soybean meal, oligofructose (OF), ground chicory roots and a mixture (60% chicory pulp and 40% OF). The inocula used were derived from pigs fed either a corn-soy based diet without antibiotics (NCON), the NCON diet supplemented with oligofructose (OF), a mixture of chicory pulp (40%) and OF (60%) (MIX), ground chicory roots (CHR) or the NCON diet supplemented with antibiotics (PCON). The cumulative gas production measured fermentation kinetics and end products, such as total gas production, ammonia and volatile fatty acids, were also determined. Both the substrate and the inoculum significantly affected the fermentation characteristics. The cumulative gas production curve showed that different substrates caused more differences in traits of fermentation kinetics than the different inocula. Inocula of weaned pigs gave a significantly higher VFA production compared to the inoculum from unweaned animals, whilst the rate of fermentation and the total gas produced did not differ. OF showed the highest fermentation kinetics and the lowest NH 3 , pH and OM loss compared to other substrates. It was concluded that the microbial activity was significantly affected by substrate and inoculum. Inoculum from weaned pigs had more potential for microbial fermentation of the carbohydrate ingredients and oligofructose than that of unweaned pigs. A combination of high and low polymer inulin may be more beneficial to the gut ecosystem than using high-or low-polymer inulin alone.

Fermentation capacities of fructan‐ and pectin‐rich by‐products and purified fractions via an in vitro piglet faecal model

“…Chicory root and pulp produced lower amounts of total SCFA and butyrate compared to oligofructose and inulin type ingredients due to their amount in fructo‐oligosaccharides, in line with Shim et al . in in vitro studies and Houdijk in in vivo studies.…”

“…Chicory pulp was slowly fermented in comparison to purified fractions (i.e. oligofructose and inulin) while chicory root displayed faster and more extensive fermentation kinetics, as already demonstrated in in vitro batch fermentation studies by Shim et al . and Pellikaan et al .…”

Effect of Replacing Soybean Meal by Raw or Extruded Pea Seeds on Growth Performance and Selected Physiological Parameters of the Ileum and Distal Colon of Pigs

“…populations in the distal colon of pigs. Insoluble fibre, which is present in legumes, is slowly fermented in the large intestine and may reduce proteolytic fermentation [71] and promote beneficial alteration in the microbial colonization with a higher butyric acid production in the large intestine and lower enterobacteria count in the digesta [72]. The results of our study also indicated a tendency towards greater isobutyric acid concentration in the colon of animals fed the PE diet.…”

Alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in prevention of diarrhoea in weaned piglets: a review

“…Furthermore, it was found that synbiotic preparations increase SCFA production (Shim et al, 2007;Bird et al, 2009) and reduce faecal noxious gas emission (Lee et al, 2009).…”