Effects of Fermented Fruits on Growth Performance, Shedding of Enterobacteriaceae and Lactic Acid Bacteria and Plasma Cholesterol in Rats

Fermented fruits (FF), a product of fruits undergo a process of fermentation using lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different levels of FF as additive on production performance, faecal Enterobacteriaceae and LAB counts and plasma cholesterol in rats. A total of 30 Sprague-Dawley (4 weeks of age) male rats were assigned individually into three groups with 10 rats per treatment. The three dietary treatments were: (i) control diet (basal diet), (ii) basal diet + 10% FF and (iii) basal diet + 20% FF. No differences (p > 0.05) were found in body weight, live weight gain, feed intake (7-9g/day) and feed conversion ratio for all the dietary groups. Bacteriological analyses were performed in faeces of the rats. The results showed that addition of FF in the diets reduced the Enterobacteriaceae population in faeces of the rats. In contrast, the faeces excreted from rats fed FF had significantly (P<0.05) higher numbers of LAB than faeces from the control rats. The plasma cholesterol concentrations for rats fed with FF were significantly lower than that of control rats.