Table 2.
Analysed pH, volatile fatty acid concentration (VFA, mmol/kg) and microbial counts (Log10 CFU/g) of the dietary treatments collected from the mixing tanks and the feed troughs in the pig pens (n = 2).
| Sampling location: | Mixing Tank | Pen Troughs | SDc | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cereal soaking (Csoak)a: | Fresh | Fresh | Soak | Soak | Fresh | Fresh | Soak | Soak | |
| Enzyme (ENZ)b: | − | + | − | + | − | + | − | + | |
| pH | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.1 | 5.7 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 0.03 |
| VFA | |||||||||
| Acetate | 11.5 | 13.9 | 11.8 | 14.0 | 22.5 | 29.7 | 31.9 | 28.6 | 1.15 |
| Propionate | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.08 |
| Isobutyrate | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.13 |
| Butyrate | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.16 |
| Isovalerate | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.04 |
| Valerate | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.07 |
| Total VFA | 14.2 | 16.4 | 14.3 | 16.6 | 24.6 | 31.9 | 35.2 | 30.7 | 1.38 |
| Acetate:Propionate ratio | 55.1 | 71.3 | 60.7 | 68.5 | 77.4 | 80.7 | 59.5 | 92.4 | 10.53 |
| Protein-derived VFA | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.17 |
| Microbial counts | |||||||||
| Lactic acid bacteria | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 8.9 | 9.0 | 1.52 |
| Enterobacteriaceae | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 6.9 | 6.9 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 1.46 |
| Yeasts | 5.2 | 5.7 | 5.2 | 4.6 | 5.6 | 6.1 | 6.6 | 6.5 | 1.49 |
| Mouldsd | <DL | <DL | <DL | <DL | <DL | <DL | <DL | <DL | — |
aSoaking the cereal fraction of the diet prior to feeding (fresh = 0 h soaking, soak = 3 h soaking).
bEnzyme supplementation with a Xylanase and β-glucanase complex [unsupplemented (−), supplemented (+)].
cSD = standard deviation.
dDL = detection limit (3 Log10 CFU/g).