Evaluation of corn fermented protein on the fecal microbiome of cats

Specific components of yeast may affect gut microbiota and health. Corn fermented protein (CFP) is a co-product from ethanol production which contains approximately 20% to 25% yeast. In this work, 11 cats were fed diets containing no yeast (T1) and either 3.5% brewer's dried yeast (T2), 2.5% brewer's dried yeast plus 17.5% distillers dried grains with solubles (T3), or 17.5% CFP (T4). Cats were fed each dietary treatment for 14 d with a 9-d adaptation phase followed by a 5-d total fecal collection. Fresh fecal samples were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Beta and alpha diversity were comparable for cats fed dietary treatments. The relative abundance of the Firmicutes and Actinobacteria phyla was lower for T3 compared to T4 and T2, respectively. When compared on a more specific phylogenic level, 17 genera out of the 50 most abundant OTU resulted in significant differences among dietary treatments. This data indicates that CFP did not alter the overall diversity of the fecal microbiome of healthy adult cats over a 14-d period. The shifts in relative abundance of taxa appeared to be influenced by the type of dietary substrate available for microbial fermentation.