title: Effects of dietary non-digestible oligosaccharides on microbial characteristics of ileal chyme and faeces in weaner pigs.
abstract: Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and transgalactooligosaccharides (TOS), which are non-digestible oligosaccharides (NDO), were included at 10 and 40 g/kg in an NDO--free control diet at the expense of purified cellulose. Each of the 5 diets was fed to 4 weaner pigs and microbial characteristics of their ileal chyme and faeces were assessed. The NDO-pigs had lower ileal pH than the control pigs. Dietary NDO did not affect the ileal volatile fatty acid concentration, though FOS-pigs had a higher concentration of lactic acid and relatively more iso-valeric acid and less acetic acid than TOS-pigs. The NDO-pigs had lower ileal aerobic bacterial counts than the control pigs, whilst the FOS-pigs had a larger ileal anaerobic bacterial counts than the TOS-pigs. The NDO-pigs had an higher faecal pH and their faecal volatile fatty acid pool contained relatively more iso-butyric acid and iso-valeric acid than the control pigs. The TOS-pigs tended to have higher faecal anaerobic bacterial counts and had a smaller concentration of faecal volatile fatty acid than the FOS-pigs. We concluded that whilst effects at the faecal level may have been partly due to a reduced intake of cellulose, dietary NDO can exert precaecal prebiotic effects in weaner pigs.
authors.affiliation: Animal Nutrition Group, Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences (WIAS), Wageningen University, The Netherlands. j.houdijk@ed.sac.ac.uk
authors.forename: J G M
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Houdijk
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hartemink
authors.forename: M W A
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Verstegen
authors.forename: Marlou W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Bosch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004063:Digestion; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000032:analysis; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007082:Ileum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011897:Random Allocation; D013552:Swine / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile; D009844:Oligosaccharides