Effect of dietary fructose polymers or sucrose on microbial fermentation, enzyme activity, ciliate concentration and diversity of bacterial flora in the rumen of rams

Irrespective of diet and sampling time (P≥0.05), the digestion velocities of timothy grass fructan, inulin, sucrose, starch, pectins, carboxymethylcellulose, and xylan were 1.3-2.9; 0.7-2.1; 4.8-9.6; 1.9-2.4, 0.3-0.5, 0.7-1.2, and 0.7-1.4 mM reducing sugars/g dry matter (DM) of rumen fluid per hour, respectively. A positive correlation was found between the degradation rate of timothy grass fructan and inulin or sucrose (P≤0.045). The total number of ciliates was 261-475×103/ml, that of Entodinium, 231-439×103/ml. The concentrations of Epidinium, Isotricha and Dasytricha were 14-24×103/ml, 2.6-7.0×103/ml, and 3.2-8.1×103/ml, respectively (P≥0.05). The Diplodinium counts varied from 1.4 to 3.1×103/ml in control animals to 4.0-7.3×103/ml in sheep fed the diet rich in timothy grass fructan and Beneo P95 (P≤0.008). A postprandial decrease in the concentration of Diplodiniuum was found in animals fed the control ration and the rations rich in timothy grass fructan and Beneo HPX (P=0.017). It was stated that the sampling time influenced the composition of bacterial flora. The experiment showed that the applied doses of the examined carbohydrates did not affect the majority of the quantified parameters. The studies shall be continued using enlarged doses of fructose-containing carbohydrates.