Table 8.
SCFA concentrations in cecal content at 2 time points among groups of animals fed a control diet or a diet supplemented with guar gum, either or not supplemented with β-mannanase at 330 g/ton feed.
| SCFA | CTR |
GG |
GG + E |
CTR vs. GG |
CTR vs. GG + E |
GG vs. GG + E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean ± SD (µmol/g) | Adjusted P value | |||||
| Cecum 14 d | ||||||
| Acetic acid | 64.78 ± 22.60 | 66.12 ± 15.05 | 69.15 ± 21.53 | 0.9860 | 0.8560 | 0.9310 |
| Butyric acid | 10.37 ± 4.99 | 10.04 ± 4.67 | 10.65 ± 5.97 | 0.9871 | 0.9909 | 0.9579 |
| Propionic acid | 8.59 ± 5.22 | 7.68 ± 2.97 | 2.90 ± 0.29 | 0.9943 | 0.0001 | 0.0001 |
| Caproic acid | 0.31 ± 0.02 | 0.32 ± 0.02 | 0.31 ± 0.01 | 0.8284 | 0.9943 | 0.8669 |
| Isobutyric acid | 0.79 ± 0.19 | 0.92 ± 0.22 | 0.67 ± 0.14 | 0.2028 | 0.2943 | 0.0077 |
| Isovaleric acid | 0.81 ± 0.24 | 1.00 ± 0.22 | 0.64 ± 0.12 | 0.0726 | 0.1486 | 0.0006 |
| Isocaproic acid | 0.25 ± 0.01 | 0.25 ± 0.01 | 0.25 ± 0.01 | 0.9655 | 0.9977 | 0.9774 |
| Valeric acid | 1.14 ± 0.31 | 1.22 ± 0.30 | 0.76 ± 0.25 | 0.8024 | 0.0073 | 0.0016 |
| Total SCFA | 90.33 ±31.53 | 87.66 ± 20.3 | 85.99 ± 27.36 | 0.9695 | 0.9180 | 0.9879 |
| BCFA | 1.91 ± 0.52 | 2.19 ± 0.42 | 1.57 ± 0.26 | 0.2713 | 0.1206 | 0.0033 |
| Cecum 28 d | ||||||
| Acetic acid | 58.25 ± 9.62 | 65.01 ± 17.51 | 41.41 ± 17.32 | 0.5426 | 0.0504 | 0.0040 |
| Butyric acid | 8.49 ± 2.81 | 14.62 ± 9.53 | 14.58 ± 12.36 | 0.2677 | 0.2723 | >0.9999 |
| Propionic acid | 9.93 ± 2.73 | 11.94 ± 4.92 | 7.50 ± 4.17 | 0.4963 | 0.3656 | 0.0334 |
| Caproic acid | 0.30 ± 0.01 | 0.32 ± 0.01 | 0.30 ± 0.01 | 0.0579 | 0.9652 | 0.0292 |
| Isobutyric acid | 0.88 ± 0.17 | 0.93 ± 0.32 | 0.61 ± 0.11 | 0.9865 | 0.0064 | 0.0035 |
| Isovaleric acid | 0.91 ± 0.26 | 1.07 ± 0.49 | 0.67 ± 0.25 | 0.7524 | 0.1175 | 0.0211 |
| Isocaproic acid | 0.24 ± 0.01 | 0.26 ± 0.02 | 0.25 ± 0.01 | 0.0242 | 0.9679 | 0.0421 |
| Valeric acid | 1.06 ± 0.18 | 1.19 ± 0.16 | 0.87 ± 0.29 | 0.3485 | 0.1311 | 0.0052 |
| Total SCFA | 80.12 ± 10.74 | 95.55 ± 28.97 | 67.75 ± 37.17 | 0.3847 | 0.5659 | 0.0635 |
| BCFA | 2.04 ± 0.43 | 2.29 ± 0.78 | 1.48 ± 0.25 | 0.7004 | 0.0175 | 0.0019 |
Values are the means of 12 animals (1/pen/treatment) ± standard deviation. ANOVA, followed by Tukey multiple comparison test, was used to determine statistical differences among groups.
GG, guar gum; GG + E, guar gum + β-mannanase; SCFA, short-chain fatty acid; BCFA, branched-chain fatty acid. Quantification limit: acetic acid, 18.43 µmol/g; butyric acid, 1.45 µmol/g; propionic acid, 1.47 µmol/g; caproic acid, 0.29 µmol/g; isobutyric acid, 0.43 µmol/g; isovaleric acid, 0.42 µmol/g; isocaproic acid, 0.24 µmol/g; valeric acid, 0.43 µmol/g; total SCFA, 23.73 µmol/g; BCFA, 0.88 µmol/g.