In vitro fermentation of cane molasses and sucrose by cecal contents of laying hens

GULTEMIRIAN MARÍA DE LOURDES; HIDALGO VICTOR MAXIMILIANO; PEREZ CHAIA, ADRIANA; APELLA, MARÍA CRISTINA

Egmond aan Zee, Holanda

Simposio; 9th Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria; 2008

IN VITRO FERMENTATION OF CANE MOLASSES AND SUCROSE BY CECAL CONTENTS OF LAYING HENS M. de L. Gultemirian1,2,3, V. M. Hidalgo1,2, A. Perez Chaia1,2,3, M. C. Apella1,2,3 1Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos (CERELA), 2Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET),  3Universidad Nacional de Tucumán Chacabuco 145, T4000ILC-San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina e-mail: lourdesg@cerela.org.ar Molasses is an inexpensive source of carbohydrates derived from the sugar cane industry. The complex mixture of di-, and trisaccharides- contained in molasses, has been taken into account for a dietary supplement for laying hens. However, the intestinal fermentation of this sugar source has not been extensively studied. The effect of different substrate dose on the fermentation profile of molasses and sucrose, its main component, were assessed in laying hen cecal homogenates incubated under anaerobic conditions for ten hours. The fermentation end products were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Lactic acid was undetected when a low dose of molasses was assayed, but after two hours of incubation with higher doses there was a rapid increase of lactic acid concentration. However, it diminished with a prolonged incubation. The concentration of propionic, butyric and acetic acid increased with fermentation time according to the substrate dose. These results suggested that the lactic acid formed was reutilized by other bacteria for their own metabolism which leads to short chain fatty acids production. Increase in acetic and propionic acid could be accomplished by Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides respectively while butyric acid is the main fermentation product of butyrate-producing bacteria like Clostridium among others. In previous studies we have demonstrated that lactobacilli isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of chickens, produce large amounts of lactic acid by utilizing molasses or sucrose as the main energy source. Therefore, the inclusion of these bacteria in the in vitro fermentation process or during feeding assays should decrease cecal content pH by increasing lactic acid concentration. This fermentation modification should allow the inhibition of pH sensitive undesirable bacteria that utilize sucrose as a carbon source.