Fermentation pattern and yields of microbial protein were investigated in cultures of the rabbit caecal contents supplied with glucose, xylose, starch, pectin and xylan. Rabbits at the age of 4 weeks (before weaning) and 3 months were slaughtered, their caecal contents added at 1.1% to growth media and incubated anaerobically at 39 degrees C for 18 h. Caecal microorganisms of 4-week-old rabbits produced no methane and caproate, less butyrate, but more propionate than microorganisms of 3-month-old rabbits. In both groups of rabbits, fermentation of xylose produced significantly more propionate and less butyrate than fermentation of glucose. More propionate and less acetate was formed from starch than from pectin. In caecal cultures from 4-week-old rabbits with pectin, the molar percentages of acetate was significantly higher and percentages of other short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) lower than in cultures with starch or xylan. In cultures from 3-month-old rabbits, fermentation of pectin and xylan produced similar SCFA profiles, different from SCFA molar composition in cultures with starch. Average production of microbial protein was 129 mg per 1 g of carbohydrate digested (range 110 to 141 mg/g). Protein yields were the same on glucose and xylose, but nonsignificantly higher on starch than on pectin and xylan. It can be concluded that the characteristics of substrate affected fermentation pattern in mixed cultures of rabbit caecal microorganisms. Substrate effects on protein yields were not statistically significant, due to high variation.

Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czech Republic

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In vitro study and comparison of caecal methanogenesis and fermentation pattern in the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) and domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)