PSVIII-15 Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Product Influences Indicators of Gut Health and Function in Healthy Adult Cats

• Published in: Journal of animal science 2023-11, Vol.101 (Supplement_3), p.460-461
• Main Authors: Norton, Sharon A, Lin, Ching-Yen, Naqvi, S Ali, Chakrabarti, Anirikh, Sardi, Maria I, Franz, Nolan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ammonia; Cats; Data analysis; Diet; Digestibility; Digestive system; Feces; Fermentation; Fungi; Gastrointestinal tract; Metagenomics; Packages; Species diversity; Statistical models; Syntrophism; Trinucleotide repeats; Vegan; Veganism; Yeast
• ISSN: 0021-8812; 1525-3163
• DOI: 10.1093/jas/skad281.546

Abstract Compared with other species, the gastrointestinal influences of dietary Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation product (SCFP) in cats are not well-characterized. In this study, SCFP (TruMune, Cargill, Inc.) was added to an extruded cat food to explore gut-related outcomes in healthy adult cats. Sixty-three cats (mean age = 6.3 ± 2.8 yr; mean BW = 4.4 ± 0.1 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design to evaluate a base diet without SCFP (CON) or supplemented with 150 mg/kg BW SCFP (TRUL) or 300 mg/kg BW SCFP (TRUH). All cats were fed CON during a 21-d adaptation period and subsequently fed their respective diet from d 0 to d 42. Fecal samples were collected at d 0, d 21 and d 42 for analysis of fecal characteristics, fermentation end-products and shotgun metagenomics. A 5-d total fecal collection was performed from d 35 to d 39 for analysis of apparent nutrient digestibility. Data were analyzed using R v.4.1.2. Non-metagenomic data were analyzed using linear and generalized linear mixed models with lme4 and emmeans packages and metagenomic data were analyzed using phyloseq, vegan, lme4, LinDA and emmeans packages. Differences P < 0.05 were considered significant and P < 0.10 as trends after FDR correction. Fecal pH was higher (P = 0.01) for SCFP-supplemented cats vs CON and exhibited a positive linear dose response (P < 0.05) at d 21 and d 42. Fecal score was higher (firmer; P = 0.05) for SCFP-supplemented cats vs CON at d 21 consistent with a linear decrease (P = 0.02) in the binary comparison of fecal moisture between CON vs SCFP-supplemented cats (P = 0.01) during total fecal collection. Fecal ammonia demonstrated a quadratic treatment dose response trend at d 21 (P = 0.09). Fecal butyrate decreased linearly with SCFP dose (P < 0.001) and was less (P < 0.05) for SCFP-supplemented than CON cats at d 21 and d 42. Total short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) decreased linearly (P = 0.08) with SCFP dose and was less (P = 0.05) for SCFP-supplemented than CON cats at d 21. Species level alpha diversity decreased for CON (P = 0.04) but did not change in the TRUL and TRUH groups. Shannon diversity tended to increase in TRUH (P = 0.08) among a subset of 25 butyrate producers identified by the presence of butyrate pathway enzymes. Differential abundance of butyrate producers showed Acidaminococcus timonensis; CAG-83 sp900545495 and Megasphaera elsdenii decreased while Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum and Lawsonibacter 1402 linearly increased over time for TRUH