Studies have been conducted to find out the effect of the feeding of calves (Bos Taurus) with Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) concentrate produced in Latvia containing the prebiotic – inulin. The study was performed on two groups of animals - a control group of 8 animals and test (prebiotic) group of 8 animals in summer (from June to August, 2013), and winter (from December, 2013 to February, 2014) in one of cow farm of Latvia, in the municipality of Bauska. Both groups were fed the whole milk, but the test group received additionally 12 g of Jerusalem artichoke powder (an average of 500 g kgE-1 inulin) per day. The overall health status and physiological parameters (temperature, heartbeat and breathing frequency) of both animal groups before the study were of the normal range. After the experiment, we found out that the calves of the test group during both winter (one case) and summer seasons (seven cases), had fewer cases of diarrhea than the control (winter months four cases and summer months nine cases) group animals, the average daily weight gain (control group 0.53 g, prebiotic group 0.75 g) and the total weight gain (control group 29.42 kg, prebiotic group 42.13 kg) during 56 test days was significantly higher ( p is less than 0.05) than that for the control animals. We concluded that the use of Jerusalem artichoke flour concentrate when fed to the calves generally gives positive impact on the development and growth of the calves, improves the status of the gastrointestinal tract and the morphometric indicators.

There is growing interest in products without added sugar; thus, sugar consumption is directly related to diabetes and other illnesses such as obesity. A change in the type of sugar and content may therefore both change the perception of sweetness and texture of products. The aim of the research work was to evaluate properties of agar-agar jellies prepared with inulin syrup, galactose syrup and malt extract to replace sugar. Agar gels were prepared to substitute sugar with inulin syrup, galactose syrup and malt extract. Texture of experimental samples was determined by using a Texture Analyser (Model TA.XT Plus; Stable Micro Systems). Colour of jellies was evaluated by using Colour Tec-PCM and Jenway 3510 was used for pH measurements. Obtained results showed that different kinds of sugar containing syrups could be used as sugar substitute for production of a new type jellies. Hardness of the experimental samples is influenced by the sugar type containing syrup. The hardness is determined in the experimental samples by replacement of sugar by increasing concentration of inulin syrup. Decreasing hardness values are observed by increase of added malt extract (maltose) and galactose syrup concentration in samples. The pH values of experimental samples ranged between 3.11 and 4.45. Higher L* value of experimental samples are with galactose syrup. Lightness “L” changed between 20.92 and 18.11 increasing inulin syrup concentration. The same situation can be observed using malt extract as sugar substitute.

Methane is considered to be the main greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted by livestock. One method for reducing methane emissions from ruminants is to improve production efficiency, which reduces methane emissions per unit of product (FAO, 2010; Gworgwor, Mbahi, and Yakubu, 2006). There are many researches about prebiotics which can reduce methane production in livestock, for example, galacto-oligosaccharides reduced methane emission up to 11% (litres/day) (Zhou et al., 2004). There is almost no information about prebiotic inulin, so the aim of this research was to determine the impact of different dosages of inulin concentrate (50%) on the increase of calves’ body weight and its impact on methane emission, as well as to find out how the results change if it is added to barley flour not to milk as in our previous research. Approximately fifty days old, clinically healthy, different Holstein Friesian crossbreed calves kept in groups of 8, in a partly closed space with natural ventilation through windows were included in this research. Eight calves were in the control group (CoG) and sixteen received inulin (Pre12 (n = 8), Pre24 (n = 8)). At the beginning of the experiment – the 28th and 56th day - we determined each calf’s weight and measured the methane level in the rumen by using the PICARROG-2508 gas analyser (Fleck, 2013). We concluded that inulin supplement significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased the live weight gain comparing Pre24 and CoG. The highest methane production on 1 kg of body weight at the end of the research was detected in Pre24 – 1.24 mg mE-3 and the lowest in CoG – 0.99 mg mE-3.

Ruminants produce a large amount of methane (CH4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO2 ) in their foregut. These gases cause greenhouse effect. There are a lot of studies about different feed additives which can reduce the production of greenhouse gases in ruminants. Prebiotics can also change the amount of bacteria in animal gastrointestinal tract and reduce the occurrence of diarrhoea. The aim of this study was to test whether the prebiotic inulin affects the production of CH4 and CO2 in calves’ rumen and whether it affects the bacteria count in the rumen fluid and bacterial overgrowth in intestines. We used the flour of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) containing 50% of inulin. Approximately fifty days old, Holstein Friesian crossbreed calves were used in this study. Eight were in the control group, 8 received 12 g of flour and 8 received 24 g per day. On the 28th and 56th day of the research, we measured the amount of CH4 and CO2 in calves’ rumen took rumen fluid samples for bacterial analysis and urine to measure the level of phenol and indican. We concluded that adding the flour of Jerusalem artichoke at doses 12 g and 24 g did not significantly impact the production of CH4 and CO2 in calves’ rumen, the prebiotic inulin may suppress the growth of anaerobic microorganisms in the rumen at concentration 12 g of inulin reaching 56th day of experiment. The amount of phenol and indican in calves’ morning urine did not correlate with the faecal consistency of calves.

Fermentation of milk with probiotics and prebiotics has been shown to increase the concentration of B group vitamins in fermented milk products. The task of the study was to investigate the influence of prebiotics on the increasing of thiamin and riboflavin concentrations in milk during fermentation by Bifidobacterium lactis. Lactulose (Duphilac, Netherlands) and inulin (Raftiline, Belgium) were added (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5%) into 100 g of milk. The milk samples were inoculated with Bifidobacterium lactis (BB-12, Chr. Hansen, Denmark) and incubated at 38 deg C for 16 hours. The amount of thiamine and riboflavin was determined by fluorometric method. Laboratory studies have shown that the increasing of thiamin and riboflavin concentrations in milk depends on the concentration of lactulose and inulin. Data on the final thiamin and riboflavin concentrations in fermented milk indicates that increasing the lactulose concentration from 1% to 3% enhanced the production of thiamin and riboflavin. The similar data was obtained with inulin. Increasing of inulin concentration from 1% to 4% enhanced the production of vitamins thiamin and riboflavin. The present results furthermore indicate that finding optimal combination of prebiotics and probiotic pairs where the prebiotic would benefit the specific probiotic strain, e.g. during production and formulation into foods, is one of the research priority for functional foods.

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of Jerusalem artichoke flour feeding on the general health status of calves (Bos Taurus), the animal live weight gain and digestive canal morphological development in the first four months of life, as well as to find out the optimal of three inulin doses. Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) concentrate produced in Latvia contains the prebiotic – inulin. The study was performed on four groups of animals - a control group of 10 animals and three prebiotic groups, 10 animals in each group. All groups were fed the whole milk, but the PreG6 group animals were fed daily with 6 grams of prebiotic, calves PreG12 group were fed with 12g of prebiotic, but each calf in PreG24 group – 24g of prebiotic per day. CoG control animals did not receive feed supplement. Faecal mass consistence of PreG6, PreG12 groups of animals was more stable within the whole research period than CoG. We found that the control group animal weight gain on the 56th research day is statistically significantly (p is less than 0.05) lower than of those calves that received inulin as a food supplement. The highest growth rates have shown PreG12 and PreG24 group of animals, significantly (p is less than 0.05) being ahead of PreG6 group of calves, the highest average daily live weight gain was observed in PreG24 group (0.95 ± 0.093 kg).