Effects of high‐ and low‐fiber diets on fecal fermentation and fecal microbial populations of captive chimpanzees

Abstract

We examined fiber fermentation capacity of captive chimpanzee fecal microflora from animals (n = 2) eating low-fiber diets (LFDs; 14% neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and 5% of cellulose) and high-fiber diets (HFDs; 26% NDF and 15% of cellulose), using barley grain, meadow hay, wheat straw, and amorphous cellulose as substrates for in vitro gas production of feces. We also examined the effects of LFD or HFD on populations of eubacteria and archaea in chimpanzee feces. Fecal inoculum fermentation from the LFD animals resulted in a higher in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and gas production than from the HFD animals. However, there was an interaction between different inocula and substrates on IVDMD, gas and methane production, and hydrogen recovery (P <0.001). On the other hand, HFD inoculum increased the production of total short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), acetate, and propionate with all tested substrates. The effect of the interaction between the inoculum and substrate on total SCFAs was not observed. Changes in fermentation activities were associated with changes in bacterial populations. DGGE of bacterial DNA revealed shift in population of both archaeal and eubacterial communities. However, a much more complex eubacterial population structure represented by many bands was observed compared with the less variable archaeal population in both diets. Some archaeal bands were related to the uncultured archaea from gastrointestinal tracts of homeothermic animals. Genomic DNA in the dominant eubacterial band in the HFD inoculum was confirmed to be closely related to DNA from Eubacterium biforme. Interestingly, the predominant band in the LFD inoculum represented DNA of probably new or yet-to-be-sequenced species belonging to mycoplasms. Collectively, our results indicated that fecal microbial populations of the captive chimpanzees are not capable of extensive fiber fermentation; however, there was a positive effect of fiber content on SCFA production.

The ciliate, Troglodytella abrassarti, contributes to polysaccharide hydrolytic activities in the chimpanzee colon

“…Recorded total and specific xylanolytic chimpanzee activities, especially in bacterial fractions, were high. This supports previous studies indicating that chimpanzees ferment hemicelluloses better than cellulose (Kišidayová et al 2009;Milton and Demment 1988). The same trend was observed in humans and non-ruminants herbivorous mammals (Holloway et al 1978;Keys et al 1969).…”

“…Captive chimpanzee diet is low in fiber, but rich in starch and readily available sugars when compared with that of wild chimpanzees (Milton and Demment 1988;Schmidt et al 2000), which might affect the ability, or lower requirement for cellulose fermentation in captive chimpanzees. However, limited capacity of the adaptation to diets with increased contents of cellulose was observed in captive chimpanzees (Kišidayová et al 2009). Assessed hydrolytic enzymatic activities of T. abrassarti fraction suggest high fibrolytic (CM-cellulolytic and xylanolytic) activities of T. abrassarti similar to that of large rumen fibrolytic ciliates (Coleman 1978;Williams et al 1986;Williams and Coleman 1985).…”

Preliminary Insights into the Impact of Dietary Starch on the Ciliate, Neobalantidium coli, in Captive Chimpanzees

“…We also stress that due to low number of experimental units, our results need to be considered as preliminary and more research is necessary to look at long-term effects of different starch levels on the number of trophozoites of N. coli . Negative impact of starch-rich (and concurrently low-fiber) diet on various components of intestinal microflora of chimpanzees has been described also by other authors ([42] – increase of Clostridium perfringens , [43] – occurrence of trichomonads and mycoplasmas, [27], [44] – increase of Troglodytella abrassarti ).…”

The Howler Monkey as a Model for Exploring Host-Gut Microbiota Interactions in Primates

“…Although studies of rodent and human gut microbiomes are still the most numerous due to the implications of gut microbes in human health and disease, some initial investigations of nonhuman primate gut microbiota composition and function exist. These investigations have generally focused on catarrhines (Frey et al 2006 ;Fujita and Kageyama 2007 ;Uenishi et al 2007 ;Kisidayova et al 2009 ;Nakamura et al 2009 ;Szekely et al 2010 ;Degnan et al 2012 ;Moeller et al 2012 ;McCord et al 2013 ;Moeller et al 2013 ), although other primate taxa, such as the pygmy loris ( Nycticebus pygmaeus ) (Bo et al 2010 ;Xu et al 2013 ) and the black and mantled howler monkeys ( A. pigra, A. palliata ) (Nakamura et al 2011 ;Clayton et al 2012 ;Amato et al 2013 ) also have been sampled. In most of these studies, the main goal is to provide data regarding the composition of the gut microbiota.…”