[Role of five Lactobacillus strains on carbohydrate degradation in monoxenic chickens]

Five strains of Lactobacillus were isolated in holoxenic roosters; two of these which had an alpha-amylase were inoculated separately into 5 groups of axenic chickens fed the same diet. Some differences among these 5 groups were noted. Lactobacillus proliferation varied between ten and a thousand-fold, depending on the strain, and for the same strain depending on whether the crop, caecum or faeces was examined. Amylolytic lactobacilli in vivo played a role in starch degradation in various ways related to the specific properties of their amylase. Lactic acid production in the crop was higher with the three strains producing the two lactic acid isomers than with the two strains producing only one of the isomers. Finally, monoxenic caecal digestion was different from that of both the axenic and the holoxenic.