The effects of cellulose, pectin and starch on standardized ileal and apparent total tract amino acid digestibilities and bacterial contribution of amino acids in feces of growing pigs

Eight ileally cannulated pigs (BW 35.9 +/- 0.9 kg) were randomly allotted according to a 4x3 Latin square, design to determine the effects of cellulose, pectin and starch on standardized ileal digestibility (SID) and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) as well as on the bacterial AA contribution in feces. The pigs were fed the control diet (20.2% CP, % dry matter (DM)) or one of the three experimental diets in which 25% of the control diet was substituted by cellulose, starch or pectin. Due to this substitution, dietary CP levels were lower in the cellulose (15.5% CP, % DM), pectin (15.4% CP, % DM) and starch diet (15.2% CP, % DM). Following a 15-d adaptation period, feces were collected for 5 d and ileal digesta for a total of 24 h. Starch increased SID of CP, while cellulose and pectin had no significant effect on the digestibility of CP. Overall, starch supplementation resulted in higher (p < 0.05) SID values of histidine, isoleucine, threonine, alanine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glycine and serine compared with cellulose, while pectin decreased (p < 0.05) SID of valine and proline compared with the starch and control diet. Both cellulose and pectin reduced (p < 0.05) the ATTD of CP and AA, while starch decreased (p < 0.05) ATTD of phenylalanine, alanine, proline and serine compared with the control. With regard to bacterial AA composition of the fecal mixed bacterial mass (MBM), cellulose supplementation increased (p < 0.05) its content of N and almost all AA, except for valine, while pectin caused higher contents of arginine, histidine and proline compared with the control (p < 0.05). The bacterial contribution of arginine in feces was higher (p < 0.05) in the cellulose treatment, while pectin reduced (p < 0.05) the bacterial contribution of leucine, alanine, glutamic acid and proline in feces compared with the control. In conclusion, the effects of cellulose, starch and pectin on SID were rather small. Bacterial activity in the large intestine can only explain the reduced ATTD values for arginine in the cellulose treatment, but not for the other AA in the cellulose and pectin treatments, suggesting higher endogenous losses of these AA in the large intestine.