Characterization of Fecal Bacterial Populations in Canines: Effects of Age, Breed and Dietary Fiber

Abstract

The effects of age, breed, and diet on fecal chemistry, enzyme activity, and bacterial populations of dogs were studied. Eighteen dogs from two age groups (young: 2.5 +/- 0.5 years, old: 10.9 +/-0.7 years) and three different breeds (German shepherds, miniature schnauzers, and English setters) were rotated through a Latin Square design such that every dog was fed each of the diets. The test diets included a low-fiber (control) diet and a 10% fiber diet which contained 5% soybean hulls and 5% beet pulp. Inclusion of 10% fiber in the diet decreased the fecal concentration of ammonia, sulfide, and indole. Fiber inclusion significantly increased acetic, propionic, and butyric acid concentrations, while fecal pH decreased by 0.4 units. Fresh fecal samples were plated on selected aerobic and anaerobic culture media and DNA extracted for denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of PCR-amplified 16S ribosomal DNA fragments. Plate counts showed significant effects of breed (p < or = 0.05) and age (p < or = 0.01) on selected aerobic and anaerobic bacterial counts, while no significant effect of diet was found. Analysis of PCR-DGGE banding patterns showed there was a tendency for individual dogs to cluster together according to age (young or old dogs) and also for size (large or small dogs). However, the outstanding conclusion obtained from the DGGE analysis of fecal bacterial profiles was that individual dogs had their own characteristic banding pattern which was unique and stable. The relative stability and individuality of the patterns indicates that each individual harbored a characteristic fecal bacterial community which was independent of diet.

Association of Obesity with Serum Leptin, Adiponectin, and Serotonin and Gut Microflora in Beagle Dogs

“…In addition, obesity induced by ad libitum feeding was associated with a significant increase in the order Clostridiales 18. The composition of the intestinal microbiota is influenced by body fat mass, sex, diet, age, breed, and kinship 39, 40, 41. In this study, we attempted to restrict other factors that may influence gut microbiota, including breed, age, and food.…”

Diversity and Bioactivity of Cultivable Animal Fecal Actinobacteria

“…A large number of microbial kinds exist in animal gastrointestinal tract and feces. The intestinal microbial community which composed of 10 13 to 10 14 microorganism outnumbers the somatic and herm cells by at least an order of magnitude [2]. However, the most part of these microorganisms are uncultivable yet [2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

“…The intestinal microbial community which composed of 10 13 to 10 14 microorganism outnumbers the somatic and herm cells by at least an order of magnitude [2]. However, the most part of these microorganisms are uncultivable yet [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. In the cause of coevolution of microorganisms and their hosts, the former play an important role in digestion and absorption of food, immunity, resistance to pathogens, and maintaining health of host.…”

Development of nucleic acid based techniques and possibilities of their application to rumen microbial ecology research

“…So far, many scientists have been using this technique, and in literature there are many papers describing the application of DGGE in research of the structure and evolution of microbial communities from food (Ercolini, 2004), clinical samples (Li et al, 2005), soil (Campbell et al, 2009), waters (Wu et al, 2006), as well as from the rumen . DGGE has been successfully applied to the analysis of human (Chen et al, 2011), pig (Simpson et al, 1999(Simpson et al, , 2000, cattle (Kocherginskaya et al, 2001;Hernandez-Sanabria et al, 2010), dog (Simpson et al, 2002) and rodent (McCracken et al, 2001) intestinal microbial populations. Freitas et al (2008) have showed that growth of the bacterial population is increased by the presence of soyabean oil, whereas growth retardation occurred when fish oil has been used.…”