Table 3.

Averaged effects of protein level and prebiotic supplementation on feces characteristics and fecal concentrations of fermentation end-products.

	Protein		Prebiotic			p-Value
	Normal	High	CTRL	OF	scFOS	Protein	Prebiotic
Total fecal output, g/d	573 ± 31.6	503 ± 25.7	544 ± 35.4	516 ± 31	563 ± 46.8	0.548	0.841
Fecal dry matter, %	40.3 ± 0.98	41.7 ± 1.08	41.4 ± 1.03	41.3 ± 1.58	40.2 ± 1.15	0.319	0.894
Stool frequency/d	2.58 ± 0.156	2.17 ± 0.103	2.36 ± 0.176	2.33 ± 0.167	2.48 ± 0.198	0.380	0.933
Volatile fatty acids (VFA), µg/mL fecal water
Butyrate	717 ± 84.5	841 ± 101.4	713 a ± 74.1	728 a ± 106.2	895 b ± 155.2	0.636	0.039
Acetate	3383 ± 322	3963 ± 337	4096 ± 253	3265 ± 338	3598 ± 589	0.546	0.646
Propionate	1736 ± 251	2352 ± 334	2059 ± 119	1857 ± 323	2172 ± 578	0.244	0.880
Total VFA	5836 ± 610	7155 ± 740	6868 ± 406	5849 ± 725	6665 ± 1281	0.479	0.109
Branched-chain fatty acids (BCFA), µg/mL fecal water
Isobutyrate	139 ± 14.3	176 ± 15.9	190 ± 13.7	135 ± 18.2	142 ± 21.9	0.311	0.306
Isovalerate	190 ± 20.0	237 ± 19.1	260 ± 19.9	181 ± 22.0	194 ± 27.4	0.307	0.249
Valerate	19.0 ± 4.01	20.1 ± 1.94	17.8 ± 1.86	21.3 ± 4.60	19.5 ± 5.17	0.952	0.875
Total BCFA	348 ± 35.9	433 ± 35.8	468 ± 34.3	337 ± 41.5	356 ± 52.7	0.340	0.328

a, b: Means within a raw with different superscripts differ significantly. Data are given as means ± SEM.