Addition of citrus pulp and apple pomace in diets for dogs: influence on fermentation kinetics, digestion, faecal characteristics and bacterial populations

Abstract

Fermentation kinetics, digestibility, faecal characteristics and bacterial populations (aerobes, anaerobes, lactobacilli, lactic acid bacteria, enterococci, coliforms and clostridia) of dog food mixed with citrus pulp and apple pomace were evaluated. The in vitro gas production of a pre-digested dog food mixed with 0, 30, 50 and 70 g/kg dry matter (DM) of citrus pulp or apple pomace was measured, and also an experiment with dogs fed the same dog food with or without the addition of 70 g/kg of either fresh citrus pulp or apple pomace was conducted. Gas production increased linearly (p < 0.001) and quadratically (p < 0.001) as fibre levels augmented. The inclusion of fibre sources in the diets resulted in higher faecal output (p = 0.005) and defecation frequency (p < 0.001), and lower faecal pH (p < 0.001) and digestibility values (p < 0.01). Faecal consistencies and microbial populations did not differ among treatments. The addition of fresh citrus and apple was effective to stimulate the hindgut fermentation, but slightly depressed the digestion.

Keywords:

• apple pomace
• bacteria
• citrus pulp
• digestibility
• dogs
• feeding
• fermentation
• fibre

Acknowledgements

The authors thank CIDEC – Facultad de Veterinaria, Lucía Reyes for her contribution in the gas in vitro trial and Nestlé, Uruguay for kindly providing the pet food.

Funding

The authors thank CIDEC – Facultad de Veterinaria for the financial support of this project.