Abstract
BackgroundFeeding dogs with diets rich in protein may favor putrefactive fermentations in the hindgut, negatively affecting the animal’s intestinal environment. Conversely, prebiotics may improve the activity of health-promoting bacteria and prevent bacterial proteolysis in the colon. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with fructooligosaccharides (FOS) on fecal microbiota and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) in dogs fed kibbles differing in protein content. Twelve healthy adult dogs were used in a 4 × 4 replicated Latin Square design to determine the effects of four diets: 1) Low protein diet (LP, crude protein (CP) 229 g/kg dry matter (DM)); 2) High protein diet (HP, CP 304 g/kg DM); 3) Diet 1 + 1.5 g of FOS/kg; 4) Diet 2 + 1.5 g of FOS/kg. The diets contained silica at 5 g/kg as a digestion marker. Differences in protein content were obtained using different amounts of a highly digestible swine greaves meal. Each feeding period lasted 28 d, with a 12 d wash-out in between periods. Fecal samples were collected from dogs at 0, 21 and 28 d of each feeding period. Feces excreted during the last five days of each feeding period were collected and pooled in order to evaluate ATTD.ResultsHigher fecal ammonia concentrations were observed both when dogs received the HP diets (p < 0.001) and the supplementation with FOS (p < 0.05). The diets containing FOS resulted in greater ATTD of DM, Ca, Mg, Na, Zn, and Fe (p < 0.05) while HP diets were characterized by lower crude ash ATTD (p < 0.05). Significant interactions were observed between FOS and protein concentration in regards to fecal pH (p < 0.05), propionic acid (p < 0.05), acetic to propionic acid and acetic + n-butyric to propionic acid ratios (p < 0.01), bifidobacteria (p < 0.05) and ATTD of CP (p < 0.05) and Mn (p < 0.001).ConclusionsA relatively moderate increase of dietary protein resulted in higher concentrations of ammonia in canine feces. Fructooligosaccharides displayed beneficial counteracting effects (such as increased bifidobacteria) when supplemented in HP diets, compared to those observed in LP diets and, in general, improved the ATTD of several minerals.
Highlights
Feeding dogs with diets rich in protein may favor putrefactive fermentations in the hindgut, negatively affecting the animal’s intestinal environment
Supplementation with FOS resulted in lower pH in feces of dogs receiving the High protein (HP) diet and, increased this parameter when dogs were fed with the Low protein (LP) diet (Table 3)
Fecal concentrations of ammonia were affected by both dietary protein concentration (41.1 vs. 58.6 μmol/g of feces for LP and HP, respectively; p < 0.001) and FOS (53.1 vs. 46. 6 μmol/g of feces for diets with or without FOS, respectively; p < 0.05) (Table 3)
Summary
Feeding dogs with diets rich in protein may favor putrefactive fermentations in the hindgut, negatively affecting the animal’s intestinal environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with fructooligosaccharides (FOS) on fecal microbiota and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) in dogs fed kibbles differing in protein content. Even though dogs are a carnivorous species, high amounts of dietary protein have demonstrated to favor a high synthesis of undesirable putrefactive metabolites, such as ammonia and volatile branched-chain fatty acids (BCFA) in the canine hindgut [4, 5]. Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) have displayed beneficial effects on the composition [9, 10] and metabolism of canine intestinal microbiota, by favoring a shift from putrefactive to saccharolytic fermentations [11, 12]
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