Improvement of Taro Leaves Using Pre-treated Enzyme as Prebiotics in Animal Feed

The objective of this study was to improve quality of taro leaves using pre-treated enzymes as prebiotic in animal feed. This study was assigned in T-test for dependent sample and consists of two in vitro experiments. First experiment consists of 2 treatments by different enzyme levels (0 and 1% w/v) with 3 replications. All treatment samples were measured for chemical compositions, reducing sugar content and oligosaccharides. The results showed that chemical compositions were significantly different among treatments (P<0.01) except crude protein and cellulose. Enzyme-treated taro leaves had lower fat content (2.96 vs. 4.31%) and hemicelluloses (14.55 vs. 15.18%) as compared to untreated taro leaves (P<0.01). Moreover, enzyme-treated taro leaves had higher reducing sugar content than untreated taro leaves (P<0.01). They were 29.78 and 6.23 mg/g, respectively. In addition, oligosaccharides analysis by thin layer chromatography (TLC) found that oligosaccharides in enzyme-treated and untreated taro leaves can digest product and releasing oligosaccharides. Second experiment was conducted to examine prebiotic properties. The results found that sugar product from taro leaves using pre-treated enzymes (Hemicell®) can increase growth of Lactobacillus plantarum (concentration of hydrolyzed products 400, 800, 1,200 and 1,600 μg/ml) but cannot inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli. In conclusion, it was suggested that enzyme-treated taro leaves can be used as prebiotic in animal feed.