Volume 8
Issue 4/volume8
Veterinary Medicine
JOURNAL OF
POLISH
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITIES
Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume8/issue4/volume8/abs-24.html
EFFECT OF NON STARCH POLYSACCHARIDES OF CEREAL GRAINS ON INTESTINAL MICROFLORA OF CHICKENS AND DUCKS
Andrzej Wiliczkiewicz
Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Quality,
Wroc³aw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland
ABSTRACT
The influence of the type of non-starch polysaccharides on the microflora composition of the contents of small intestine and caecum of poultry was investigated in the conducted experiment. Four cereal grain types (maize, wheat, barley and oat), being a basic source of polysaccharide differentiation in the diets of chickens and geese, constituted the subject of the study. A total number of aerobic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria as well as yeasts and moulds were determined in the contents of ileum and caecum of the birds. Besides, an interdependence between the contents of structural carbohydrates, SCFA concentration, pH value and microflora composition of the analysed alimentary tract segments was investigated. The using of ground wheat instead of maize as the main diet components resulted in the increase of xylose contents in them, and in case of ground barley and oat it also caused the increase of crude fibre, NDF, hemicelluloses and cellulose. These change caused the increase of the general number of aerobic bacteria and lactic acid bacteria in the contents of ileum and caecum of the birds. A higher number of bacteria was found in ducks in ileum contents in the groups receiving concentrates with the increased share of structural carbohydrates in comparison with chickens, where a similar tendency was not observed. A higher general number of aerobic bacteria and lactic acid bacteria were found in chickens when compared with ducks. The contents of structural carbohydrates, microflora composition, SCFA concentration as well as pH reaction in the contents of ileum and caecum were mutually correlated (p≤0.01).
Key words: non-starch polysaccharides, cereal grains, chickens, ducks, intestinal microflora.
Andrzej Wiliczkiewicz
Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Quality,
Wroc³aw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland
Che³monskiego 38D, 51-630 Wroc³aw, Poland
phone: (0-71) 320 58 35
email: wiliczkiewicz@op.pl
Responses to this article, comments are invited and should be submitted within three months of the publication of the article. If accepted for publication, they will be published in the chapter headed 'Discussions' and hyperlinked to the article.