Fiber in Animal Nutrition

43 Fiber related health and welfare topics in broilers. They observed a significantly increased number of goblet cells due to the use of the CFC. Goblet cells are epithelial cells whose function it is to secrete gel forming mucins, which are the major component of mucus. The mucus protects the mucosae where the goblet cel ls are found. They also have a role in immunology. It is well established that harmful bacteria cannot colonize as easily on an intact mucosae.Thus, the increased number of goblet cells due to the use of insoluble CFC has a positive effect on intestinal health as well. Insoluble fiber affects therefore the intestinal health in terms of bacterial colonization via 2 different mode of action, a faster transit and an increased number of goblet cells. The use of insoluble fiber via feed for a certain period of time should therefore re- duce the number of harmful bacteria in the intestinal tract. Indeed Bogusławska-Tryk et al. (2015) could confirm this in their broiler trial. They used 0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 % of inso- luble CFC on top of a standard broiler feed. Especially the comparably low inclusion rates of 0.25 and 0.5% insoluble CFC caused some remarkable effect on the intestinal microflora and the level of short chain fatty acids. The results are shown in table 17. The insoluble CFC increased the number of beneficial bacteria in the gut and reduced the number of harmful bacteria. At the same time an increased level of short chain fatty acids and lactic acid could be observed. Very Insoluble CFC in the diet (%)* 0 0.25 0.50 1.0 Lactobacilli Ileum 7.94 ± 0.03 a 8.54 ± 0.06 b 8.62 ± 0.09 b 8.37 ± 0.08 b Ceca 8.16 ± 0.03 8.42 ± 0.09 8.40 ± 0.14 8.40 ± 0.09 Bifidobacteria Ileum 7.95 ± 0.00 a 8.57 ± 0.07 b 8.59 ± 0.09 b 8.48 ± 0.11 b Ceca 8.21 ± 0.05 a 8.75 ± 0.07 b 8.77 ± 0.05 b 8.69 ± 0.03 b E. coli Ileum 6.82 ± 0.04 a 6.25 ± 0.13 b 6.23 ± 0.14 b 6.51 ± 0.16 a, b Ceca 6.75 ± 0.06 a 6.23 ± 0.13 b 6.23 ± 0.14 b 6.67 ± 0.07 a Clostridia Ileum 5.78 ± 0.04 a 5.38 ± 0.08 b 5.32 ± 0.09 b 5.59 ± 0.10 a, b Ceca 5.79 ± 0.03 a 5.42 ± 0.08 b 5.36 ± 0.08 b 5.59 ± 0.09 a, b Lactic Acid Ileum 28.75 ± 4.11 29.64 ± 5.33 31.64 ± 2.33 29.53 ± 1.22 Ceca 60.28 ± 2.00 a 82.48 ± 7.22 a. b 90.48 ± 8.21 b 67.16 ± 2.78 a Sum of SCFA and lactic acid Ileum 52.97 ± 7.17 a 61.08 ± 8.67 a, b 86.31 ± 4.32 b 69.61 ± 3.61 a, b Ceca 123.94 ± 4.75 a 150.47 ± 10.07 a, b 162.00 ± 8.78 b 128.56 ± 4.69 a Table 17: Intestinal microflora and short chain fatty acids in broilers as influenced by different nutritive levels of insoluble CFC (Bogusławska-Tryk et al., 2015) *Arbocel a, b means with different superscripts are significantly different (p< 0.05) © ERLING Verlag