In vitro fermentation of 12 dietary fibres by faecal inoculum from pigs and humans

Effects of alginate and resistant starch on feeding patterns, behaviour and performance in ad libitum-fed growing pigs

“…Fermentation did not seem to contribute substantially to nutrient supply in pigs fed ALG-containing diets. Although ALG has been reported to lead to a significant increase in fermentation activity and SCFA production in pigs , likely related to an increase in the flow of digesta in the large intestine, according to in vitro fermentation measurements, ALG is slowly fermented by faecal microbiota from pigs (Jonathan et al, 2012). Moreover, a low inclusion level of ALG in the diets may have further contributed to its lower SCFA supply.…”

In vitro production of short-chain fatty acids from resistant starch by pig faecal inoculum

“…A simple comparison between total production of SCFA, as an index of fermentation activity besides gas production, after in vitro fermentation of various NDC sources could be misleading, likely because of confounding effects related to differences in experimental conditions, procedural schemes, microbial population and length of incubation. However, data from the current work revealed that the in vitro fermentability potential (expressed as total SCFA) of different starchy ingredients are comparable to that obtained after fermentation of various NDC sources (i.e., homoglucans, mannans, fructans, polyuronides and complex heteroglycan) (Jonathan et al, 2012).…”

“…As expected, all RSs acted as butyrogenic sources (Brouns et al, 2002), providing a butyrate production about twofold higher than dietary fibre (Wang et al, 2004;Williams et al, 2005;Jonathan et al, 2012). Butyrate is an important metabolite being the preferential fuel for colonocytes and has several physiological effects on cell metabolism, differentiation and proliferation (Martinez-Puig et al, 2003).…”

“…Wang et al (2002) reported different SCFA productions in mice from day 3 to day 8 of the experimental period after feeding diets formulated with different types of dietary starches, probably related to a variation in composition and population of indigenous colonic bacteria. In addition, structural changes occurring to RS during microbiota degradation may influence fermentation patterns, including SCFA composition (Jonathan et al, 2012).…”

“…As substrates must be depolymerized by bacterial hydrolytic enzymes before the fermentation process, the rate of substrate depolymerization strongly influenced the rate at which carbohydrates become available for bacteria (MacFarlane and MacFarlane, 2003). In general, highly branched polymers (i.e., amylopectin) can provide a lot of cleaving sites for exo-enzymes, producing larger amounts of monomers and dimers that can be readily fermented by microbiota, whereas degradation of more linear polymers (i.e., amylose) yields large oligomers, which cannot be used directly by bacteria (Jonathan et al, 2012). In addition, the different degree of penetration of bacteria into starch granules, which is related to granule dimension and surface area, is essential for some bacterial strains and may also interfere with the enzymatic microbial activity (Martinez-Puig et al, 2003).…”