Pet food and feed applications of inulin, oligofructose and other oligosaccharides

Abstract

Prebiotics may be considered as functional food ingredients. They are attracting considerable interest from pet owners, pet food manufacturers, livestock producers and feed manufacturers. The most common forms of prebiotics are nondigestible oligosaccharides (NDO), including inulin, oligofructose mannanoligosaccharides, gluco-oligosaccharides, and galacto-oligosaccharides. These NDO are nondigestible by enzymes present in the mammalian small intestine, but are fermented by bacteria present in the hindgut of nonruminants. Inulin and oligofructose are present in measurable quantities in feed ingredients like wheat, wheat by-products, barley, and peanut hulls. Consumption of prebiotic oligosaccharides elicits several purported health benefits. In companion animals, prebiotics have been shown to improve gut microbial ecology and enhance stool quality. In production livestock and poultry, prebiotics are employed to control pathogenic bacteria, reduce faecal odour, and enhance growth performance. Research to date indicates positive effects of prebiotics on health status and performance of companion animals, livestock, and poultry.

Alternative for improving gut microbiota: use of Jerusalem artichoke and probiotics in diet of weaned piglets

“…The results of the current study have shown that feeding orally just 3% of Jerusalem artichoke powder did not sensibly alter microbiota in GIT of pigs in comparison with other trial groups. It is established, that oligosaccharides incorporated in swine diets at levels ranging from 5 to 40 g/kg per diet have resulted in a variet, but generally not significant, effect regarding beneficial modulation of microbial populations detected in feces of swine (Mikkelsen et al 2003) and the supplementation of piglets a diet with 40 g FOS/kg had no effect on anaerobic bacteria and enterobacteria in feces of pigs (Flickinger and Fahey 2002). As to numbers of E.coli, no differences were detected altogether (Tako et al 2008).…”

Physiological aspects of energy metabolism and gastrointestinal effects of carbohydrates

“…However, the effects on hepatic lipid metabolism are worth further study. There is also great interest in prebiotics in the pet food and animal feed industry (Flickinger and Fahey, 2002), where improved control of gastrointestinal infection is reported and enhanced growth performance is seen in poultry especially. Other areas of interest include prebiotics and immunomodulation and the gut immune system, glycaemic control, behavioural effects, especially cognitive performance, and the enhancement of probiotic activity in synbiotics.…”

Beet Sugar Syrup and Molasses as Low-Cost Feedstock for the Enzymatic Production of Fructo-oligosaccharides

“…As syrup and molasses are coloured materials and the FOS specifications for human 25 nutrition are very restrictive in this subject, the FOS obtained by the methods described in We are very grateful to Azucarera Ebro (Valladolid, Spain) for supplying beet sugar syrup 10 and molasses. We thank Drs.…”

“…Effect of pH and substrate concentration on FOS production 25 The presence of a fructosyl-transfer activity in commercial Pectinex Ultra SP-L from…”

“…The spectrophotometric assay 14 was adapted to a 96-well microplate scale as described (16 Batch production of fructo-oligosaccharides 25 Soluble or immobilised Pectinex Ultra SP-L was added to diluted beet sugar syrup and 26 molasses, previously filtered through a glass microfibre filter. Total reaction volume was 5 ml.…”