Fig. 7. Impact of alternatives to sodium nitrites 120 mg/kg (Vegetable Stock (VS), Polyphenol-rich Extract (PRE), Lallemand solution (YE) on fecal microbiota.

A Distribution of bacterial communities at the order level. *Main impact on Bifidobacteriales, Desulfovibrionales, Peptococccales and Peptostreptococcales-Tissierellales using differential abundance analysis at the order level (Deseq2, P_adj ≤ 0.05): Normalized Log₁₀ abundances were represented using scatter plots with bar (mean ± sem, n = 12). B Alpha diversity: No significant impact seen on richness (Chao-1) or eveness (Shannon). Individual values are represented using box and whiskers ( + mean). C Beta diversity (Unifrac distances, manova p ≤ 0.001). The rats fed the 4 meat-based diets clustered differentially according to their respective microbiota in terms of qualitative abundance and taxonomy of OTUs. D Heatmap of clusters agglomerated at the genus level affected by the meat-based diets (15 clusters). P_adj ≤ 0.05 using differential abundance analysis (Deseq2). E Normalized abundance of the 4 clusters in D displaying specificities associated with the fermented Vegetable Stock diet (VS). Clusters are agglomerated at the genus level and normalized Log₁₀ abundances were represented using scatter plots with bar (mean ± sem, n = 12) F Normalized abundance of the 4 clusters in D displaying specificities associated with the Polyphenol-rich Extract diet (PRE). Clusters are agglomerated at the genus level and normalized Log₁₀ abundances were represented using scatter plots with bar (mean ± sem, n = 12). G Normalized abundance of the 7 clusters in D displaying specificities associated with the Lallemand solution (YE). Clusters are agglomerated at the genus level and normalized Log₁₀ abundances were represented using scatter plots with bar (mean ± sem, n = 12), significance was determined by a Kruskal-Wallis followed by Dunn’s mean comparison test.*p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001.