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The effect of dietary short chain fructo-oligosaccharide inclusion on performance and the digesta concentration of skatole in heavy weight finishing pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2017

E.L.R. Salmon*
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
S.A. Edwards
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
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Extract

As nutrient density requirement decreases with increasing age, finishing pig diets may oversupply nutrients. This can result in excess protein, including the amino acid tryptophan, reaching the large intestine where it can be metabolised by the microbial flora providing a substrate for bacterial skatole production. Skatole can give rise to carcass taint. The use of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), has been proposed to reduce the levels of production and absorption of skatole. One type of NSP, short chain fructo-oligosaccharides (scFOS), has shown to influence the microbial population and reduce skatole production in vivo (Xu et al. 2002). It is thought the reduction in skatole production is due to an increased requirement for amino acids for bacterial cell protein synthesis, combined with changed microbial biota and pH which shifts the microbial metabolism of tryptophan toward indole production. This study explored the effect of a dietary inclusion of scFOS on the production of skatole and performance of a commercial UK genotype taken to heavier slaughter weight.

Type
Theatre Presentations
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2007

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References

Xu, Z.R, Hu, C.H. and Wang, M.Q. 2002. Effects of fructooligosaccharide on conversion of L-tryptophan to skatole and indole by mixed populations of pig fecal bacteria. Journal of General and Applied Microbiology 48 (2): 83–89 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed