Browsing by Subject "Prebiotics"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Effect of Including Capsaicin and Gut Microbiota Feed Additives on Growth Performance of Nursery Pigs
    (2020-12) Rosa Medina, Eduardo
    Feed additives such as capsaicin, prebiotics, and microbiota feed additives can increase postweaning growth performance of pigs while decreasing antibiotic use. Therefore, we conducted two experiments to evaluate the growth performance of newly weaned pigs fed capsaicin, prebiotics, and microbiota feed additives. On the first experiment, we observed that feeding Capsaicin to sows during lactation and the corresponding offspring during weaning was more effective at increasing feed efficiency of weaning pigs than feeding Capsaicin only in lactation or only to nursery pigs. Likewise, there was a greater number of genes differentially expressed when sows and their offspring consumed Capsaicin than feeding to sows or nursery pigs alone. On the second experiment, we observed that the offspring of multiparous sows had greater post-weaning growth performance than those of primiparous sows and that feeding four different microbial feed additives did not increase the growth performance of the offspring of either group of sows.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Efficacy of prebiotics and probiotics on growth performance in poultry: A protocol for a systematic review
    (2020) Hwang, Haejin; Miller, Elizabeth A.; Johnson, Abigail; Valeris-Chacin, Robert; Nault, Andre J.; Singer, Randall S.; Johnson, Timothy J.
    The use of prebiotics and probiotics as dietary additives in poultry has been practiced widely as an alternative to antibiotics and to support gut health. Despite the wealth of products available, there is currently a lack of clear scientific evidence that the use of prebiotics and probiotics beneficially impact growth performance in poultry. The aim of this protocol paper is to document the process of a systematic review addressing the following review question: Does oral administration of a prebiotic (defined as dietary fiber, dietary carbohydrates, oligosaccharides, or yeast cell wall) or probiotic (defined or undefined single or mixed cultures of living bacteria, fungi, and/or yeast) provide beneficial effects on growth performance in broiler chickens and turkeys? The proposed systematic review will provide evidence on the effectiveness of prebiotics and probiotics for enhancing growth performance in poultry, and will help to alleviate high skepticism, criticism, and confusion over the use of prebiotics and probiotics in poultry among poultry producers.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Prebiotic Dietary Fibers Must Achieve a Threshold of Beneficial Gut Bacteria in Order to Prevent Adiposity and Fatty Liver in Rats Fed High Fat Diets.
    (2020-08) Abernathy, Breann
    Introduction Prebiotic dietary fibers are dietary fibers that are highly fermented in the large intestine, produce beneficial changes in the gut microbiome, and impart a health benefit to the host. Using reactive extrusion, we have synthesized a novel dietary fiber that is an oligosaccharide of polymerized lactose, which we term polylactose. Here we report on two studies feeding polylactose to rats to determine its prebiotic potential. Methods In Exp. 1, the polylactose preparation contained 51% dietary fiber, 20% free lactose, 5% glucose, and 24% other materials. Rats were fed high fat diets containing 9% total dietary fiber, including cellulose (C, 9%), polylactose (PL, 6%), polydextrose (PD, 6%), and fructooligosaccharide (FOS, 6%). In Exp. 2, the polylactose preparation contained 75% dietary fiber, 9% lactose, 3% glucose, and 13% other materials. Rats were again fed high fat diets containing 9% total dietary fiber, including C (9%), polylactose (6% or 3%), PD (6%), and galactooligosaccharides (GOS, 6%). In both experiments, rats were fed for 10 weeks, then ceca (empty), cecal contents, livers, and epididymal fat pads were collected. Results In both experiments, final body weight and daily energy intake did not differ among the groups. In Exp. 1, feeding PL greatly increased cecum weight (an indicator of fermentation), cecal Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species abundance, increased cecal acetate and propionate, and reduced liver lipids and fat pad weight, compared to the HFC group. PD and FOS increased probiotic species and short chain fatty acids slightly (compared to HFC), but not to the same extent as PL, and neither PD or FOS reduced fatty liver or adiposity. In Exp. 2, 6% PL increased cecum weight relative to 3% PL, PD and GOS, all of which were greater than HFC. The cecal microbiome was similar among PL (both 3 and 6%), PD, and GOS, all of which differed from HFC. Liver lipids, fat pad weight, and body composition did not differ among any of the groups in Exp. 2. Conclusions The prebiotic activity of polylactose differed depending on the preparation, for unknown reasons. However, our results suggest there is a threshold of probiotic bacteria abundance that must be attained before beneficial effects are imparted on the host by prebiotics.