Fig 7. The effect of exogenous Lactobacillus reuteri addition on the initial rate of starch disappearance by equine fecal cell suspensions.

Grain types included minimally processed, finely ground (2 mm screen) corn (a), oats (b), and wheat (c) at 1.6% w/v starch concentration. The treatments included substrate only (circles, solid line), substrate + 10⁸ L. reuteri live (squares, hatched line; 10⁷ final concentration) or substrate + 10⁸ L. reuteri dead (autoclaved; triangles, dotted line). Samples for starch analysis were taken at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 h of incubation. Asterisks indicate a significant difference between L. reuteri (live or dead) treated suspensions and the substrate only control within a time point (P < 0.0001); Corn: P = 0.0796; Oats: P = 0.4568; Wheat: P < 0.0001; SE Corn = 2.6373; Oats = 0.6326; Wheat = 1.9951.