1992 Volume 38 Issue 3 Pages 287-296
Pectin, guar gum, transgalactosylated oligosaccharide and glucose were estimated as substrate for hindgut fermentation by meas-uring the volume of gas released from a 1ml scale batch culture using rat cecal contents. The amount of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in cultures of glucose and pectin was also measured. The amount of SCFA (Y μmol/ culture) or volume of gas released (Y ml/culture) was expressed as an exponential function of incubation time (t) (Y=A+B× (1-e-kt); A, B and k are constants). The amount of potential production of gas and SCFA (B) for glucose was higher than that for pectin and the rate constant of gas and SCFA (k) for pectin was higher than that for glucose. The volume of gas released (ml/culture) correlated positively and linearly with the amount of total SCFA (acetic, propionic and n-butyric acids, μmol/culture). A single regression stood for both glucose and pectin. The gas release followed saturation kinetics. The half maximal concen-tration and maximal velocity for gas release from pectin were higher than those from other substrates (glucose, guar gum and transgalactosylated oligosaccharide).
