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Aims: Probiotic effects of compost containing thermophiles on productivity have been reported in domestic animals, although not cattle. We evaluated the effects of administering Caldibacillus hisashii, a thermophile contained in compost, on growth, blood components, faecal organic acid concentrations and microbiota population in Japanese black calves. Methods and results: Calves were administered C. hisashii from 3 to 5 months of age. Administering C. hisashii decreased feed intake without affecting body weight, indicating that feed efficiency is improved by administration. Administering C. hisashii decreased plasma insulin concentration without affecting glucose and nonesterified fatty acid concentrations. Chao1 was decreased by exposure at 5 months of age. Similarly, weighted and unweighted UniFrac distances were affected by treatment at 5 months of age. Faecal abundance of the phylum Bacteroidetes tended to be increased by exposure. Faecal propionic acid concentration was correlated positively with faecal abundance of phylum Bacteroidetes but negatively with that of Firmicutes. Interestingly, the population of the genus Methanobrevibacter, representing the majority of methanogens, was lowered by exposure and was negatively correlated with faecal propionic acid concentration. Conclusion: Administration of C. hisashii has the potential to improve growth performance of Japanese black calves and to contribute to reducing environmental load, which may be associated with altered endocrine kinetics and gut microbial populations. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study revealed that isolated thermophiles included in compost may exert probiotic effects on calves.

A cDNA library of phosphorylcholine (PC)-specific suppressor T hybridoma, 29-C-6, was constructed. By differential colony hybridization, 68 colonies were selected which hybridized with mRNA probes of two PC-specific suppressor T hybridomas, 29-C-6 and 09-M-24-8, but not with those of BW5147. A hybridization translation assay revealed that only one combination of translation products of cDNA clones, p6-1 and p6-5, showed strong PC-T cell suppressor factor (TsF) activity. Sequence analysis showed that p6-5 contained a specific cDNA sequence of about 800 base pairs (bp) while p6-1 had a 190 bp poly(A) sequence insert. When total poly(A) + RNA of 29-C-6 was hybridized with p6-1 filter alone the recovered mRNA was capable of producing PC-TsF. However, when the total poly-(A) + RNA was hybridized with a p6-1 filter combined with a p6-5 filter, the mRNA eluted from the p6-1 filter was not able to produce PC-TsF, suggesting that the depletion of p6-5 specific mRNA from p6-1-binding poly(A) + RNA led to a complete abolishment of the capability to produce PC-TsF. Furthermore, p6-5 hybridizing mRNA could successfully restore the p6-1-binding poly(A) + RNA depleted of p6-5-specific mRNA, and translation products of both RNA mixtures showed strong PC-TsF activity. These results suggest that PC-TsF is not a single polypeptide chain, but is composed of at least two distinct polypeptide chains, and also that p6-5 contains a cDNA sequence encoding for one of the polypeptide chains composing the PC-TsF molecule.