The immunostimulating properties of fructooligosaccharide make it possible to offer this product as a replacement for growth stimulating antibiotics.
Increasing the immunity and productivity of farm animals with the help of natural substances is a popular trend amid fears of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.
Recent studies have shown that immunostimulants such as probiotics and prebiotics can be used as an alternative.
Prebiotics, such as inulin-type fructans and galactooligosaccharides, exhibit immunostimulatory properties in the host by selectively promoting growth and/or promoting the growth of certain beneficial bacteria (eg, probiotics).
Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are considered popular forms of prebiotics that are composed of short chain and undigested carbohydrates because the β-bonds between fructose monomers cannot be hydrolyzed by endogenous enzymes.
FOS is derived from the cell wall of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and this product can play an important role in rabbit production, as dietary FOS improved growth performance (body weight, weight gain, feed conversion rate) and immune responses of poultry in broiler production.
FOS accelerates the intestinal fermentation of beneficial microorganisms such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and reduces the accumulation of pathogenic bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens and Escherichia coli. Therefore, FOS is considered a prebiotic.
An international team of researchers from Egypt and CHINA worked to identify the possible effects of FOS (β-fructan®, commercial FOS) supplementation in drinking water on productivity, carcass characteristics, hematobiochemical parameters, oxidative stress, and caecal microbiota in rabbits. The results are published in Animals 2022.
Oral FOS supplementation was expected to improve growth, blood chemistry, and antioxidant status, as well as diversify microflora populations to alleviate weaning stress in rabbits.
A total of 180 five week old male rabbits with an average body weight of 700 ± 39 g were divided into six groups of 30 rabbits per group.
In the control group, the animals were not given a feed additive, while FOS-0.5 ml and FOS-0.1 ml were added to the first and second groups, respectively.
The experimental groups received 0.5 and 1.0 ml of β-fructan (1.3 pharmaceutical grade 10%) per liter of drinking water on three consecutive days per week.
Thus, each rabbit in the 0.5 ml β-fructan group received 349.8 mg of the substance during the eight week experimental period, while in the 1 ml β-fructan group each rabbit received 699.75 mg β-fructan.
The rabbits were kept in galvanized wire cages with feeders and automatic drinkers (nipples). Fresh water was provided ad libitum, as was the standard kibble, which was fed twice a day at 8:00 and 14:00. The cages were regularly cleaned and disinfected.
According to the results, the addition of FOS to rabbits activated growth and weight gain, while significantly improving hematological parameters and antioxidant status.
The dietary supplement also minimized the number of pathogenic Escherichia coli bacteria (from 3.45 in the control groups to 2.89 and 2.24 (Log10 cfu g) in rabbits treated with 0.5 ml and 1 ml of FOS, respectively.
The researchers conclude that commercial fructan can be considered a useful growth promoter in rabbit production.