Effects of fermented products on performance, faecal pH, <i>Enterobacteriaceae</i> and lactic acid bacteria counts and interrelationships, and plasma cholesterol concentration in rats

Abstract

Fermented products (FP), a mixed product of raw fish, sea weed, rice bran, sugar cane juice, were obtained in a process of fermentation using combination of cultures of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The objectives of this study were to assess the effects of diets with different levels of FP on performance, faecal pH, Enterobacteriaceae and LAB counts and their relationships, and plasma cholesterol concentration in rats. A total of 24 Sprague Dawley (10 weeks of age) female rats were assigned individually into three groups of 8 rats per treatment. The three dietary treatments were: 1. control diet (basal diet), 2. basal diet + 10% FP and 3. basal diet + 20% FP. The final liveweight, growth rate, total feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not significantly different for all the treatment groups. Addition of FP to the diets reduced the Enterobacteriaceae population in faeces of the rats and significantly (P<0.05) increased numbers of LAB as compared with control rats. The faecal pH in rats fed with FP was more acidic than in rats fed with basal diet. The correlation analyses between LAB counts and Enterobacteriaceae counts, LAB counts and faecal pH and Enterobacteriaceae counts and faecal pH, suggest that FP provides an acidic environment, which encourages the growth of LAB and then leads to the inhibition of Enterobacteriaceae growth. The plasma cholesterol concentrations for rats fed with FP were significantly lower than that of control rats.

Effects on growth performance, faecal microflora and plasma cholesterol after supplementation of spray-dried metabolite to postweaning rats

“…The addition of SDM to the diets of rats significantly decreased the Enterobacteriaceae counts in the faeces in the third week of the experiment. The results showed similar trends to those reported in pigs (Urlings et al, 1993) and rats (Loh et al, 2003). The reduced shedding of Enterobacteriaceae in the faeces was also found in studies using fermented feed containing Lactobacillus cultures (Mikkelsen and Jensen, 1998;Loh et al, 2003).…”

“…The results showed similar trends to those reported in pigs (Urlings et al, 1993) and rats (Loh et al, 2003). The reduced shedding of Enterobacteriaceae in the faeces was also found in studies using fermented feed containing Lactobacillus cultures (Mikkelsen and Jensen, 1998;Loh et al, 2003). Similarly, probiotics supplemented to piglets within a day of birth significantly reduced the numbers of Salmonella choleraesuis (Fedorka et al, 1999) and E. coli detected in gut tissues and faeces.…”

“…plantarum I-UL4 did not show any significant difference in LAB counts in the faeces compared to the control rats. This is in contrast with the results obtained by Foo et al (2003a,b) and Loh et al (2003). However, Usman and Hosono (2000) reported that the rats fed with non-fermented milk produced from Lb.…”

Effects of feeding a fermented product on egg production, faecal microflora and faecal pH in laying hens

“…The FP used in this study was rich in LAB, a low pH and high concentration of lactic acid (Loh et al, 2003b). It has been shown that LAB has antagonistic effect on harmful bacteria either in vitro or in vivo studies (Lindgren and Dobrogosz, 1990;Forestier et al, 2001;Foo et al, 2003).…”

Evaluation of fermented whole crop wheat and barley feeding on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, faecal volatile fatty acid emission, blood constituents, and faecal microbiota in growing pigs

“…In this study, the total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were lower than in pigs that were fed the CON diet. In previous studies, Loh et al (2003) showed a decrease in plasma cholesterol levels in the fermented product group compared with the nonfermented product group in rats. Chu et al (2011) reported that fermented diets could have an effect on reducing HDL and LDL cholesterol in fattening pigs.…”