Effect of retrogradation, pancreatin digestion and amylose/amylopectin ratio on the fermentation of starch by Clostridium butyricum (NCIMB 7423)

Using three different maize starches (maize, waxy maize and high amylose maize, containing 25%, 1% and 52% amylose, respectively) the influence of amylose/amylopectin content and of retrogradation on fermentation by the porcine caecal anaerobe Clostridium butyricum was assessed. Small intestine digestion was simulated using pancreatin before the starches were exposed to bacterial fermentation. It was found that retrogradation appeared to alter the extent of the fermentation and hence the amount of short-chain fatty acids produced, while pancreatin digestion appeared to alter the way in which the organism fermented the starch and hence the acetate/butyrate ratio. The amylose/amylopectin ratio seemed to have more influence on the way the starch was fermented by the bacteria after the starch had been subjected to digestion with pancreatic enzymes, but had less influence when the starch had been retrograded. (C) 1998 SCI.