Nutritional implications of D-xylose in pigs

Hemicellulose consists primarily of pentose sugars, joined together in a polysaccharide chain with D-xylose as the most abundant component. Ileal digestibility and urinary excretion of D-xylose and associated effects of this pentose sugar on ileal and faecal digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), gross energy (GE) and nitrogen were studied in pigs. Castrated pigs were prepared with a post-valvular T-caecum cannula to measure ileal digestibility. Faecal digestibility was measured in non-cannulated pigs. D-Xylose was given at dietary inclusion levels of 100 and 200 g/kg, and the control sugar, D-glucose, at a rate of 200 g/kg diet. Ileal digestibility of D-xylose as well as that of D-glucose was found to be close to 100%. The presence of D-xylose in the diet decreased ileal digesta pH and increased ileal flow of volatile fatty acids, suggesting the occurrence of microbial degradation of D-xylose in the pig small intestine. In pigs fed on the 100 g D-xylose/kg diet, 44.5% of the D-xylose intake appeared in the urine. This percentage increased significantly to 52.6 when pigs were fed on the 200 g D-xylose/kg diet. Ileal and faecal digestibility of DM, OM, GE and N, as well as N retention, decreased significantly in pigs fed on the 200 g D-xylose/kg diet.