Fiber in Animal Nutrition

Fiber in Poultry Nutrition 40 Concerning the mode of action behind the positive impact of insoluble fibers on the wet litter scenario there is evidence that the impact of the insoluble fibers on the transit period is a key factor as they speed up the transit period of the digesta in the small inte- stine. Thus harmful bacteria cannot colonize and produce endotoxines, which often cause a release of water into the lumen. Some of the insoluble CFCs have a very high water binding capacity.This might have a positive impact on the wet litter issue as well. These insoluble CFCs bind the water in the upper part of the intestine and release the water in the lower part of the intestine by osmotic pressure. Therefore the water is available for reabsorption and will not appear in the litter. Farran (2011) evaluated the effect of an insoluble CFC on litter quality. He used 1200 day-old male broiler chicks of the Ross 308 strain.These animals had been divided into a trial group (0.8%CFC) and a control group (0.8%wheat bran). They used 6 replications per group (100 chicks per group allocated to 12 floor pens). At the end of the 38 day fattening period they measured the humidity of the litter. Results are shown in table 13. These results have been conf irmed by Westendarp (2014) and his group from the University of Osnabrueck, Germany. They fed 37,900 broilers with 0.8 % insoluble CFC and 37,900 broilers without CFC. They used 0.8% insoluble CFC on top. A significant improvement in litter quality was observed. Additionally they were able to observe a significant reduction in footpad lesions in those animals that received the insoluble CFC. Barwary (2011) from the La Trobe Uni- versity in Australia evaluated the effect of an insoluble CFC on the litter moisture in layers. The results are shown in table 14. The insoluble CFC caused a reduction in litter moisture by 4% in the birds at an age Control Insoluble CFC (0.8 %)* Litter humidity (%) 36.1 a 26.6 b Control Trial Feed Standard 8 kg insoluble CFC* on top No of animals 25 000 25 000 Trial duration (weeks) 19–28 19–28 Litter moisture week 25 43 39 Litter moisture week 28 36 28 Table 13: Litter humidity as influenced by 0.8 % insoluble CFC in feed (Farran, 2011) *Arbocel a, b means with different superscripts are significantly different (p<0.05) Table 14: Effect of an insoluble CFC on the litter moisture in layers (Barwary, 2011) * Arbocel © ERLING Verlag