Effects of a multi-strain probiotic on growth, health, and fecal bacterial flora of neonatal dairy calves

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with a multi-strain probiotic (MSP) product containing of Bifidobacterium animalis, Lactobacillus casei, Streptococcus faecalis, and Bacillus cerevisiae on growth, health, and fecal bacterial composition of dairy calves during the first month of life.Methods: Forty Holstein calves (24 female and 16 male) at 2 d of age were grouped by sex and date of birth then randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments: milk replacer supplementation with 0 g (0MSP), 2 g (2MSP), 4 g (4MSP), and 6 g (6MSP) MSP per calf per day.Results: Supplementation of MSP did not result in any significant differences in parameters of body measurements of calves during the 30 d period. As the dosage of MSP increased, the average daily gain (p = 0.025) and total dry matter intake (p = 0.020) of calves showed a linear increase. The fecal consistency index of the 2MSP, 4MSP, and 6MSP group calves were lower than that of the 0MSP group calves (p = 0.003). As the dosage of MSP increased, the concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase (p = 0.068) and aspartate aminotransferase (p = 0.081) in serum tended to decrease, whereas the concentration of total cholesterol increased quadratically (p = 0.021). The relative abundance of Dorea in feces was lower (p = 0.011) in the 2MSP, 4MSP, and 6MSP group calves than that in the 0MSP group calves. The relative abundance of Dorea (p = 0.001), Faecalibacterium (p = 0.050), and Mitsuokella (p = 0.030) decreased linearly, whereas the relative abundance of Prevotella tended to increase linearly as the dosage of MSP increased (p = 0.058).Conclusion: The MSP product can be used to reduce the diarrhea, improve the performance, and alter the composition of the fecal bacteria in neonatal dairy calves under the commercial conditions.

Host-specific probiotics feeding influence growth, gut microbiota, and fecal biomarkers in buffalo calves

“…Adding PF to the calves’ diet caused limited changes within community diversity (α-diversity) from WK0 to WK4, and no statistical differences were observed in the Simpson, Shannon, and Chao1 indices. Our findings are comparable to previous studies on changes in fecal microbiota in calves when fed with multispecies probiotics during the initial eight weeks of life (Wu et al 2021 ; Guo et al 2022 ). It is well documented that GIT bacterial population go through dynamic changes in abundance and diversity with the progressing age of calves (Amin et al 2021 ).…”

“…Prevention and control of NCD outbreaks in young calves before occurring are more cost effective, and current study have found that early intervention of probiotics has a better preventive effect (Wu et al 2021 ). These effects were more pronounced during the first two months of the calf’s birth than in later stages, indicating probiotics are most efficacious in establishing gut microbiomes than stabilized ones (Malmuthuge et al 2015 ; Guo et al 2022 ). Therefore, in-feed supplementation of lactobacilli strains would be expected to maintain a eubiotic state in gut microbial ecology and beneficial in preventing diarrheal episodes in neonatal calves.…”

“…However, the efficacy of probiotics is dependent on the niche of origin, the microbial strain selected, and their combination, considering their effects are likely to be host-strain-specific (Singh et al 2021b ; Sanders et al 2018 ). An increasing number of studies have reported that multispecies probiotic supplementation confers numerous health benefits, including improved growth performance and gut health indices of animals, thus indicating its remarkable potential to be used as a microbial feed additive in calf nutrition (Cangiano et al 2020 ; Wu et al 2021 ; Guo et al 2022 ). Various researchers have also successfully demonstrated the efficacy of host-specific (autochthonous) probiotics in poultry (Reuben et al 2022 ), calves (Fernández et al 2020 ; Varada et al 2022 ), canines (Kumar et al 2017 ), and pigs (Oh et al 2021 ).…”

“…However, several studies have shown the beneficial effects of Lactobacillus spp. on gut microbiota development and to minimize calves’ susceptibility to enteric infections during the pre-weaning period (during the first 4 weeks of life) (Fomenky et al 2018 ; Wu et al 2021 ; Guo et al 2022 ). These results also include improved body weight and a reduction in the occurrence of diarrhea (Lu et al 2022 ).…”

Impact of Probiotics on Dairy Production Efficiency

“…This beneficial shift was also correlated with enhanced ruminal papilla and small intestinal villus growth of the studied animals. In another study, the effect of a multi-strain probiotic product containing Bifidobacterium animalis , Lactobacillus casei , Streptococcus faecalis , and Bacillus cerevisiae on general health and the fecal bacterial composition of Holstein’s calves were investigated and it was found that although the probiotic supplements did not affect the overall fecal microflora at the phylum level, the relative abundance of beneficial Prevotella increased while abundance of the opportunistic pathogens Dorea decreased ( Guo et al, 2022 ), suggesting that this probiotic supplements supported an enhanced defence mechanism of the rumen and the intestine, potentially reducing the risk of colonization by pathogens.…”