Beneficial Effects of Fermented Sugarcane Residue with Goat Probiotic On Gut Health

Abstract

Sugarcane is rich in dietary fibers that have beneficial properties in gastrointestinal tract. In addition the sugarcane is well known for its protective role in mammalian health. However, the sugarcane industry produces vast quantities of residues. Sugarcane blunting (waste produced by the sugarcane industry) was fermented under different conditions: using native microbiota (control), using specific goat probiotics, including Lactobacillus reuteri DDL19 (Treatment Nº1), Lactobacillus alimentarius DDL 48 (Treatment Nº2), Enterococcus faecium DDE 39 (Treatment Nº3), Bifidobacterium bifidum DDBA (Treatment Nº4) and a probiotic mixture containing equal amounts of the four probiotics (Treatment N°5). The fermented sugarcane is a synbiotic supplement for goats because it contains goat probiotic as well as dietary fibers considered as prebiotic. Firstly, the ensilages were microbiologically examined and then administered simultaneously to different batches of six goats each immediately after weaning. We evaluated the five different treatments during three consecutive periods of seven days each (ingest-repose), starting immediately after weaning. The best results were obtained with the probiotic mixtures of strains belonging to different genera and species. The ingestion of the Treatment 5 was able to diminish coliforms and enhance the beneficial Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria by at least one logarithmic unit with respect to the control. Furthermore, the incidence of diarrhea in this experimental group was lower than the control group. The intestinal flora was improved in all cases in which sugar cane fermented with the probiotic strains was consumed. The residue is a good vehicle for probiotic strains, providing sugars and dietary fibers in a period of drought and in geographical areas of poor pastures. In this work, we use an industrial solid waste (highly polluting) as synbiotic supplement food for goats.