Nutrient Digestibility of a Vegetarian Diet With or Without the Supplementation of Feather Meal and Either Corn Meal, Fermented Rye or Rye and Its Effect on Fecal Quality in Dogs

• Main Authors: Amr Abd El-Wahab, Volker Wilke, Richard Grone, Christian Visscher
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-02-01
• Series: Animals
• Subjects: canine; dog food; nutrient utilization; fecal quality
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/2/496

Cereals with low environmental input like rye and animal by-products which cannot be used for human food like feather meal are receiving growing interest as sustainable feed sources. Thus, eight Beagle dogs were included in a 4 x 4 Latin Square design and received a vegetarian basic diet or the same diets supplemented with hydrolyzed feather meal (2.7%) and either 20.1% of corn meal, 60.4% of fermented rye or 20.1% of rye as is basis (moisture content of the diets about 42%). Compared to other groups the dry matter (DM) content of feces from dogs fed the basic diet was higher (30.0%,<i> p</i> < 0.05), while dogs fed the basic diet + rye had the lowest DM-content (26.5%, <i>p</i> < 0.05). However, the fecal scores were considered to be within an acceptable range (well-formed and firm). Starch digestibility was lower (<i>p</i> < 0.05) for dogs fed the basic diet + corn meal. The dogs showed a high and identical acceptance (scoring of food intake) of the experimental diets. As a comparable quality of feces and a high nutrient digestibility were observed when rye was used in the experimental diets — it can be considered an alternative carbohydrate source in dog foods.