| Summary: | Currently investigations on gut microbiota of animals and humans have received increased emphasis as it is thought to be a key factor in metabolism of nutrients, immune system, growth and protection against potential pathogens. Investigations on the effects of plant ingredients and fibers/NSPs on gut microbiota have been widely studied and implicated that their role shifts the level and composition of gut microbial communities. However, the presence of ANFs in plant ingredients effect on fermentation and gut microbiota is not clearly known. It was hypothesized that, inclusion of different levels of purified ANFs affect gut microbes including their proliferation, numbers, total composition and metabolic activity. As Atlantic salmon don not have functional enzymes to digest carbohydrate diets, the study of such changes is difficult to have in vivo study to ascertain the cause-effects of purified ANFs, because it is not possible to distinguish whether the outcome is due to the fibers/NSPS in SBM or due to the tested ANFs. Therefore, in this study, the use of in vitro simulation model mimicking microbial processes in salmon intestine was supposed to offer a suitable alternative to avoid such possible confounding effects as the results of these assays would be caused by the direct effects of individual and combined effects of purified lectin, saponin, isoflavonoid and phytosterol on fermentation and gut microbiota of farmed Atlantic salmon. The changes in the bacterial levels and composition of farmed Atlantic salmon in response to the different ANFs were investigated by qPCR analysis. Parameters such as gas production, change in pH, redox potential, and levels of metabolites released were also used to estimate the effects on microbial fermentation. The total microbial counts tended to decrease linearly with increasing combination of antinutrients, particularly with saponin and isoflavonoid but their effects were not significantly different either from the control or the other levels. Saponin was relatively the most ...
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