Effect of diet supplementation with the addition of Saccharomyces cerevisiae upon stress response in slaughter lambs

Abstract

The study included 2 groups of lambs (GL): control (C) and experimental (E) which since day 11 of life was receiving an addition of dried Saccharomyces cerevisiae preparation. At the age of 100 days, 12 lambs from each group were weaned from mothers for 12-h pre-slaughter fasting, and transported to a slaughter house. Blood was sampled for analyses: before weaning from mothers (BST 1), before and after transport (BST 2 and 3). Blood samples were assayed for: values of neutrophils and lymphocytes, N:L (neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio), cortisol and glucose. After 24-h chilling of lamb carcasses, musculus longissimus dorsi was subjected to measurements of final acidity (pH 24 ) and colour (CIE Lab), and muscle samples were collected for evaluation of water absorption and shear force. The GL and BST had a significant effect on the N:L ratio. No significant differences were found in the cortisol concentration between groups of lambs. This indicator was significantly different in the analyzed blood sampling time (P < 0.01). In the entire period of pre-slaughter handling, in group C cortisol concentration increased × 8.5, whereas in group E it increased × 4.3 compared to the baseline value. In both groups, the study showed an increase (P < 0.01) in glucose concentration in BST 3 compared to BST 1 and BST 2. Meat of lambs from group E was characterized by lower (P < 0.05) values of pH 24 , WHC, SF, and indicator a*. The obtained results suggest the advisability of applying a preparation of dried brewer's yeast in rearing slaughter lambs in order to strengthen their immunity and to alleviate effects of pre-slaughter stress. , yeast, pre-slaughter handling, blood indicators, meat quality Sheep

Effect of dietary supplementation with β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate on stress parameters in goat kids

“…Numerous researchers have demonstrated that glucose is a reliable indicator of stress in animals. Glucose levels increased in response to the stress induced by 1.5-2.5 h (Kannan et al, 2000(Kannan et al, , 2003Rajion et al, 2001;Ali et al, 2006;Sowińska et al, 2016Sowińska et al, , 2017, 6 h (Nwe et al, 1996;Galipalli et al, 2004;Kannan et al, 2007b), as well as 12 h of transportation (Minka and Ayo, 2010a). In the present experiment, a significant increase in the serum glucose levels of goat kids transported to the slaughterhouse also indicates that glucose is a useful parameter for evaluating stress responses in animals.…”

“…In the works of Galipalli et al (2004) and Kannan et al (2007a), seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) extract did not lower cortisol concentration, glucose levels, or the N:L ratio in goats after transportation. Dietary supplementation with dried brewer's yeast (Sowińska et al, 2016) and beta-glucan (Sowińska et al, 2017) did not cause significant differences in cortisol levels between control and experimental lambs, but it significantly lowered blood glucose and the N:L ratio after transportation. Ali et al (2006) showed a significantly higher HCT and lymphocyte counts and significantly lower cortisol and glucose levels in the group of goats which received xylazine before the 2-h transportation compared with the control group.…”

“…Stress triggers the release of corticoids, which increase neutrophil counts and decrease lymphocyte counts in the leukogram (Stanger et al, 2005). A significant increase in the N:L ratio was observed regardless of the duration of transportation (1.5-12 h) (Nwe et al, 1996;Kannan et al, 2000Kannan et al, , 2007aRajion et al, 2001;Galipalli et al, 2004;Minka and Ayo, 2007;Minka et al, 2009;Sowińska et al, 2016Sowińska et al, , 2017). In the current study, the N:L ratio in goat kids also increased significantly after transportation to the slaughterhouse.…”

“…Various methods for minimizing stress and its negative effects on animal health have been evaluated in the literature. The efficacy of various preparations, including seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) extract (Galipalli et al, 2004;Kannan et al, 2007a,b), xylazine (Ali et al, 2006), ascorbic acid Ayo, 2007, 2010a;Minka et al, 2009), and dried yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) (Sowińska et al, 2016(Sowińska et al, , 2017, has been evaluated in animals. In the works of Galipalli et al (2004) and Kannan et al (2007a), seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) extract did not lower cortisol concentration, glucose levels, or the N:L ratio in goats after transportation.…”

“…Considerable research has been devoted to minimizing stress responses in various animal species through the use of pharmaceuticals, herbs, yeast, seaweeds, minerals, and vitamins (Ali and Al-Qarawi, 2002;Young et al, 2003;Galipalli et al, 2004;Kannan et al, 2007a,b;Ayo, 2007, 2013;Ali et al, 2006;Ferguson and Warner, 2008;Ambore et al, 2009;Sowińska et al, 2016Sowińska et al, , 2017. However, not all pharmaceuticals and preparations, in particular antidepressant drugs, can be administered to livestock due to the safety requirements imposed on animal products (Ali and Al-Qarawi, 2002;Young et al, 2003;Ali et al, 2006).…”