Possible Interaction: Ammonia and Pectin

“Both FOS and pectin supplementation resulted in increased fecal scores (P < 0.001) and concentrations of ammonia (P = 0.003) and 4-methyl phenol (P = 0.003).”

“Abomasal pectin did not affect fecal pH or DM content; however, in experiment 2, pectin decreased fecal ammonia from 19.8 to 13.4 mmol/kg of DM and increased fecal purines from 13.8 to 15.8 mmol/kg of DM.”

“However, abomasal pectin tended to decrease both ruminal ammonia concentration and urinary purine derivative output in experiment 2, suggesting that postruminal pectin fermentation may have compromised rumen microbial protein production.”

“This study clearly demonstrates that luminal ammonia concentration is dependent upon both protein level and fiber type, and that a fermentable fiber pectin ), rather than decreasing colonic ammonia concentrations, actually increases them several-fold.”