. 2021 Nov 23;99(12):skab347. doi: 10.1093/jas/skab347

Table 3.

Fecal characteristics, short-chain fatty acid (SCFA), branched-chain fatty acid (BCFA), phenol, and indole concentrations in adult dogs fed test diets control, nonviable Lactobacillus acidophilus (NVL), mixed prebiotics (MP), and MP + NVL diets

	Dietary treatments
Item	Control	NVL	MP	MP + NVL	SEM	P-value
Fecal pH	6.20^ab	6.42^a	5.70^c	5.97^bc	0.48	0.01
Fecal score¹	3.45^a	3.42^a	3.31^b	3.32^b	0.05	0.01
Fecal DM, %	33.7^a	34.7^a	29.0^b	28.6^b	0.62	0.01
Fecal fermentative end-products, µmol/g DM
Acetate	221.11^b	230.75^b	346.97^a	371.43^a	9.43	0.01
Propionate	135.85^b	146.32^b	207.14^a	215.19^a	9.62	0.01
Butyrate	42.02	37.43	31.48	32.21	2.56	0.05
Total SCFA²	398.98^b	414.50^b	585.59^a	618.83^a	16.0	0.01
Isobutyrate	4.37^a	4.41^a	3.80^ab	2.81^b	0.31	0.01
Isovalerate	6.63^a	6.83^a	5.88^ab	4.57^b	0.45	0.01
Valerate	0.93^b	0.89^b	1.31^a	1.38^a	0.10	0.01
Total BCFA³	11.93^ab	12.13^a	11.00^ab	8.77^b	0.80	0.03
Phenol	0.63^a	0.67^a	0.44^ab	0.14^b	0.09	0.01
Indole	1.04^a	1.02^a	0.60^ab	0.23^b	0.10	0.01

¹Fecal scores: 1 = watery diarrhea, 1.5 = diarrhea, 2 = moist, no form, 2.5 = moist, some form, 3 = moist, formed, 3.5 = well-formed, sticky, 4 = well-formed, 4.5 = hard, dry, and 5 = hard, dry, crumbly.

²Total short chain fatty acids (SCFA) = acetate + propionate + butyrate.

³Total branched-chain fatty acid (BCFA) = isobutyrate + isovalerate + valerate.

All values are means and pooled SEM. ^abDenotes significant (P < 0.05) difference between diets.