Effects of probiotic dietary supplementation on diarrhoea patterns, faecal microbiota and performance of early weaned calves

Abstract

Twenty Lithuanian Black-and-White calves (10 bulls, 10 heifers) were used to evaluate the effects of the supplemental probiotic product, Enterococcus faecium M74 (2.4 g/day/calve), added to fresh milk and skimmed milk in a 56 day-study. The probiotic was administered by dietary supplementation to first group of calves and their respective pens (probiotic group), whereas the second group (control group) received no probiotic supplementation. The results of this trial indicate positive effects of the probiotic product Enterococcus faecium M74. The actual percentage of calves with diarrhoea was reduced from 50 % to 20% among the calves fed the pre-and probiotic diet. Probiotic supplementation reduced the faecal count of clostridia and enterococci. The calves fed Enterococcus faecium M74 weighed more at 20, 40 and 62 days of age by 4.9%, by 9.7% (P < 0.05) and by 9.4% (P < 0.01), respectively, than the control calves. The calves fed Enterococcus faecium M74 had increased daily weight gains compared with the calves not fed a probiotic product. The average weight gain and the daily weight gain of the probiotic-supplemented calves were by 7.8 kg (P < 0.01) and by 0.14 kg higher (P < 0.01) compared with the control calves. The calves given the Enterococcus faecium M74 also had forage and total DM intakes that were numerically higher than those fed the control diet, without any additive. During the 56 days experimental period, the average feed conversion rate was improved by 12.9% in the probiotic-treated group.

Response of ruminant health and growth to the probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

“…The cases and total days of diarrhoea in both treatment groups were recorded during the supplement period whilst calves were in the animal house. A reduction of diarrhoea in pre-weaned calves due to the addition of probiotics was also found by Aldana et al (2009) and Jatkauskas and Vrotniakiene (2010). Although a reduction in incidence of diarrhoea was recorded in these studies, it was not always associated with an improvement in growth performance.…”

“…Studies into the potential for probiotics in ruminant diets are increasing but focus mainly on pre-weaned animals. In immature ruminants, probiotics can advance rumen development by increasing the length and density of rumen papillae (Sun et al 2011), reduce the frequency of diarrhoea (Timmerman et al 2005;Jatkauskas and Vrotniakiene 2010;Signorini et al 2012), and increase dry matter intake (DMI) (Kowalski et al 2009;Frizzo et al 2010b), daily weight gain (DWG) (Galina et al 2009;Bayatkouhsar et al 2013) and feed efficiency (Sun et al 2010a). …”

Desempenho de bezerros leiteiros recebendo probiótico contendo Bacillus subtilis e Bacillus licheniformis

“…Há inúmeros trabalhos verificando a utilização de probióticos em bezerros, pois as primeiras semanas de vida são muito importantes para seu desenvolvimento e produção futuros. Alguns destes trabalhos mostram melhora no desempenho dos animais (KAWAKAMI et al, 2010;KOWALSKI et al, 2009;JATKAUSKAS et al, 2010), diminuição na incidência de diarreia (JATKAUSKAS et al, 2010;KIM et al, 2011), enquanto outros autores não tiveram efeitos significativos (BAYATKOUHSAR et al, 2013;FRIZZO et al, 2010). O que se destaca em alguns destes trabalhos é que os efeitos esperados dos probióticos apresentam-se mais significativos quando os animais estão sob estresse (TIMMERMAN et al, 2005;CRUYAGEN et al, 1995, RIDELL et al, 2010 Sun et al (2010), utilizou cepas de Bacillus subtilis natto durante a fase de aleitamento em bezerros suplementados no sucedâneo.…”

Desempenho de bezerros leiteiros recebendo probiótico contendo <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> e <i>Bacillus licheniformis</i>

“…Os microrganismos utilizados têm mostrado eficácia com relação a microbiota intestinal, melhorando consumo de alimentos, taxa de conversão alimentar, ganho de peso diário e peso vivo em aves, suínos, ovinos, caprinos, bovinos e equinos (CHIOFALO et al, 2004;LI et al, 2006;TORRES-RODRIGUEZ et al, 2007;SAMLI et al, 2007;CASEY et al, 2007 (KAWAKAMI et al, 2010;KOWALSKI et al, 2009;JATKAUSKAS et al, 2010;SOLO et al, 2014), diminuição na incidência de diarreia (BATISTA et al, 2008;JATKAUSKAS et al, 2010;KIM et al, 2011), enquanto outros autores não tiveram efeitos significativos (BAYATKOUHSAR et al, 2013;FRIZZO et al, 2010). O que alguns deles salienta é que os efeitos esperados dos probióticos ficam mais expressivos quando os animais estão sob estresse (TIMMERMAN et al, 2005;CRUYAGEN et al, 1995, RIDELL et al, 2010, o que ocorre geralmente até as 2 primeiras semanas de vida.…”

“…Alguns destes trabalhos mostram melhora no desempenho dos 16 animais (KAWAKAMI et al, 2010;KOWALSKI et al, 2009;JATKAUSKAS et al, 2010;SOLO et al, 2014), diminuição na incidência de diarreia (BATISTA et al, 2008;JATKAUSKAS et al, 2010;KIM et al, 2011), enquanto outros autores não tiveram efeitos significativos (BAYATKOUHSAR et al, 2013;FRIZZO et al, 2010). O se destaca em alguns destes trabalhos é que os efeitos esperados dos probióticos apresentam-se mais significativos quando os animais estão sob estresse (TIMMERMAN et al, 2005;CRUYAGEN et al, 1995, RIDELL et al, 2010 (REBER et al, 2006).…”