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Shifts in intestinal microbial communities were observed with the hulless barley cultivars with a normal to high ß-glucan content and from normal starch toward either high-amylopectin or high-amylose starch. These hulless barleys had the lowest (P<0.05) microbial diversity, whereas oats had intermediate diversity compared with low- ß-glucan hulless cultivars and hulled varieties. Furthermore, hulless varieties favoured xylan- and ß-glucan-degrading bacteria whereas mixed-linked ß-glucan-supplemented hulled barley favoured lactobacilli. Numbers of lactobacilli decreased in the ileum of pigs fed hulless/high mixed-linked ß-glucan barleybased diets. Thus, cultivar differences in both the form and the quantity of carbohydrates affect gut microbiota in pigs, which provides information for future feeding strategies.
R Pieper, R Jha, B Rossnagel, AG Van Kessel, WB Souffrant and P Leterme. 2008. Federation of European Microbiological Societies, 66:556-566.
