This study investigated the effect of xylanases from families 10 and 11 on the production of small chain arabinoxylo-oligosaccharides (AXOS) (X₂-X₄) from wheat arabinoxylans, and identified the impact that pH, temperature and time exposed to xylanase have on this process. Xylanase from family 10 had greater hydrolytic efficiency and resulted in heightened AXOS production compared with xylanase from family 11 or family 10 and 11 combined. The pH of the environment had a significant effect on AXOS production (P < 0.001) and the greatest conversion of arabinoxylans into AXOS was observed at pH 2.5. The effects of temperature of the environment and amount of time the samples were exposed to the xylanase on AXOS production were inconsistent and were dictated by pH and xylanase family, as evidenced by interactions between temperature and pH (P = 0.016) and xylanase family (P = 0.032) and time and pH (P = 0.007).

The clear goal of animal nutrition is to facilitate the optimal use of resources for production of a desired trait. Animals are produced for meat, eggs, milk, wool, leather and many other outputs that have significant economic value. The cost of producing these outputs largely depends on the cost of the feed employed and the concomitant efficiency of that feed to produce the output of interest. Commercial least-cost formulation programmes are routinely employed to establish the lowest cost route for meeting these needs. The success of such programmes is dependent upon both the accuracy of the requirement and ingredient nutrient content data employed. Nutrition experiments are central to this process as they provide the very information that drives this optimization. As a result, it is important to ensure that when an experiment is conducted, the data generated are both accurate and relevant to the intended application.