Nutrient digestibilities, microbial populations, and protein catabolites as affected by fructan supplementation of dog diets

Abstract

Fructans are fermentable carbohydrates and include short-chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOS), inulin, and hydrolyzed inulin (oligofructose, OF). Two studies with dogs were designed to examine the effects of low concentrations of fructans on nutrient digestibilities, fecal microbial populations, and endproducts of protein fermentation, and fecal characteristics. In Exp. 1, 11 adult male beagles were fed corn-based, kibbled diets supplemented with or without OF to provide 1.9 +/- 0.6 g/d. Dietary inclusion of OF decreased (P < 0.05) nutrient digestibilities, but did not affect fecal characteristics. Increasing OF concentration tended (P < 0.06) to linearly decrease fecal ammonia concentrations, but not those of branched-chain fatty acids (BCFA), amines, indole, or phenols. Fecal concentrations of total short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and butyrate tended to be higher in OF-supplemented dogs (P < 0.10), as was the ratio of bifidobacteria to total anaerobes (P = 0.15). In Exp. 2, ileally cannulated adult female hounds were fed a meat-based kibbled diet and were assigned to four scFOS treatments (0, 1, 2, or 3 g/d) in a 4 x 4 Latin square design. Ileal nutrient digestibilities tended to increase (P < 0.15) with increasing concentrations of scFOS. On a DMI basis, fecal output tended to decrease linearly (P < 0.10) in response to increasing scFOS supplementation, whereas fecal score tended to exhibit a quadratic response (P = 0.12). In general, fecal concentrations of SCFA, BCFA, ammonia, phenols, and indoles were not altered by supplemental scFOS. Supplementation of scFOS increased fecal concentrations of total aerobes (P < 0.05) and decreased concentrations of Clostridium perfringens (P < 0.05). From these data, it seems that low levels of supplemental fructans have divergent effects on nutrient digestibility and fermentative endproducts, but do not adversely affect nutrient digestibility or fecal characteristics and may improve colonic microbial ecology in dogs.

Responses of feeding prebiotics on nutrient digestibility, faecal microbiota composition and short-chain fatty acid concentrations in dogs: a meta-analysis

“…A number of studies have been conducted on the effects of prebiotics on intake, digestibility, intestinal microbial populations and immunity in dogs, but their effects are not consistent. For instance, apparent digestibilities of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) were decreased by supplementation of oligofructose in the study by Propst et al (2003), but were not affected by fructooligosacharides (FOS) in the study by Flickinger et al (2003). Strickling et al (2000) reported that FOS did not affect the numbers of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli.…”

Effects of inulin supplementation on selected faecal characteristics and health of neonatal Saanen kids sucking milk from their dams

“…Fructans are one of the most popular -Email: cagdaskara@uludag.edu.tr prebiotic supplements available and include short-chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOS), oligofructose (OF) and inulin (Flickinger et al, 2003a and2003b).…”

“…Inulin is a group of fructooligosaccharides (FOS) with chain lengths varying between 3 and 65 monomers (Apanavicius et al, 2007) and may be fermented more slowly in the colon as it has a higher degree of polymerization compared with scFOS and OF (Flickinger et al, 2003b;Bosscher, 2009). It has been shown that slowly fermenting fructans can be tolerated more easily than faster fermenting fructans (Bosscher, 2009), which may prevent adverse side effects, such as diarrhoea and flatulence, because of excessive amount of fermentation by colonic bacteria within a short time in neonatal kids under stress and at greatest risk of dehydration and hypothermia.…”

Efeitos de probióticos sobre a digestibilidade, escore fecal e características hematológicas em cães

“…Estas estão associadas à digestibilidade do alimento e para essa avaliação utiliza-se uma escala que varia de 1 a 5 (Flickinger et al, 2003;Veronesi, 2003). Normalmente, os probióticos favorecem a digestão dos alimentos, melhorando as características das fezes, ou seja, mantêm um escore fecal proporcional à digestibilidade (Veronesi, 2003).…”