Effect of Feeding Yeast Culture on Performance, Health, and Immunocompetence of Dairy Calves

Abstract

Objectives were to determine effects of feeding a culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on performance, health, and immunocompetence of calves in the first 70 d of age. Holstein calves (n = 512) at 2 +/- 1 d of age were randomly assigned to yeast culture (YC, 218 females and 37 males) or control (223 females and 34 males). Yeast culture was fed at 2% of the grain dry matter. All calves received colostrum during the first 24 h, pasteurized milk thereafter until 60 d of age, and grain was fed ad libitum for the first 70 d of age. Calves were housed in individual hutches, and grain intake was measured 5 d/wk. Body weight was measured at 5, 30, and 68 d of age, and attitude and fecal consistency were scored daily. Incidence and duration of health disorders and treatments were recorded. Neutrophil phagocytic and killing activities and antibody response to immunization with ovalbumin were measured. Concentrations of glucose and 3-hydroxybutyrate were measured in plasma. Grain intake did not differ between treatments and averaged 908 g/d throughout the study. Body weight change, concentrations of glucose, and 3-hydroxybutyrate did not differ between YC and control. Minor effects on neutrophil function were observed, and YC tended to increase the number of phagocytized bacteria and killing of phagocytized bacteria but did not influence humoral immune response. Attitude scores were similar between treatments throughout the study. Almost all calves experienced mild diarrhea during the study, but feeding YC improved fecal scores, reduced days with watery feces, incidence of fever and diarrhea, and risk of health disorders. Because of the high incidence of diarrhea, mortality preweaning was also high, but YC improved survival of calves by decreasing mortality rate past 13 d of age. Income at the end of the study was improved by $48/calf with YC. Feeding yeast culture in grain improved health, minimized frequency of health treatments, and reduced risk of morbidity and mortality in dairy calves.

Effects of hydrolyzed yeast supplementation in calf starter on immune responses to vaccine challenge in neonatal calves

“…Some studies reported that yeast cell wall components interact with immune systems, stimulating macrophage activation (Selijelid et al, 1987;Djeraba and Quere, 2000). Previous studies also reported that supplementation with 2% yeast culture improved fecal scores, reduced days with watery feces and reduced risk of health disorders in Holstein calves, and also that incorporating live yeast into the grain feed reduced the number of days the calves were afflicted with diarrhea (Galvã o et al, 2005;Magalhã es et al, 2008). Nevertheless, few studies on the efficacy of yeast or yeast products on health or immune activity in young calves are available (Seymour et al, 1995).…”

Effect of Probiotic, Prebiotic and Synbiotic on Hematological Parameters of Crossbred Calves

“…Probiotics have extensive range of favorable effects such improving body weight gain (BWG) and feed efficiency (Abdel-Raheem et al, 2012), immunomodulatory effects (Magalhaes et al, 2008), protection of young animals against gastrointestinal disorders like diarrhoea (Galvao et al, 2005) and decrease mortality (Magalhaes et al, 2008). Prebiotics enhance growth (Ghosh and Mehla, 2012), decrease faecal colliform count (Ghosh and Mehla, 2012), enhance immunity (Fleige et al, 2009) and are found to be most effective in times of stress or increased pathogen exposure throughout the calf's lifetime (Heinrichs et al, 2009).…”

Rumen fermentation characteristics in pre-weaning calves receiving yeast culture supplements

“…Inadequate forestomach development can lead to increased health problems (i.e. diarrhoea, bloat) in the calf and can postpone the weaning age (Beharka et al, 1998;Magalhăes et al, 2008). Therefore, the understanding of factors responsible for the initiation and control of forestomach development, and especially of rumen development, in neonatal calves is of primary importance.…”