Growth performance, nutrients digestibility, and blood metabolites of lambs fed diets supplemented with probiotics during pre- and post-weaning period

Abstract

ObjectiveTwo experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects on growth performance, digestibility, and blood metabolites of lambs during pre- and post-weaning period of inclusion of a commercial probiotic (PRO) containing a mixture of two strains of Pediococcus, Pediococcus acidilactici (1×106 colony-forming unit [cfu]/g) and Pediococcus pentosaceus (1.3×106 cfu/g), with dextrose as the carrier compound compared to a diet based on concentrate mixture and wheat straw.MethodsIn exp. 1, 24 male lambs of about 15±2.6 d age and initial body weight (BW) of 5.52±0.6 kg were randomly allocated into three groups. One group received control diet without additives, and remainders received control diet supplemented with 0.5 or 1 g PRO/lamb/d. Daily feed intake and biweekly BW were recorded. In exp. 2, five lambs, (initial BW = 29.72±1.15 kg, age = 6.54±0.32 mo) were used as experimental animals in a digestion trial. They were fed the same diets as in Exp. 1.ResultsThe supplementation of PRO did not result in any significant differences in milk intake, average daily gain (ADG), or total gain between treatments during the pre-weaning period. Total dry matter intake tended to be greater (p = 0.07) with addition of PRO in the post-weaning diets. During post-weaning phase, the final BW, ADG, total gain, and feed conversion ratio of the lambs receiving PRO treatments tended to be greater (p≤0.10) than the control group. Addition of PRO in post-weaning diet decreased (p≤0.01) blood urea and cholesterol concentrations. With the exception of ether extract digestibility, all nutrients digestibility were improved with inclusion PRO in the post-weaning diets.ConclusionLambs that received PRO in post-weaning diet appeared to show a better performance than lambs in pre-weaning period. Addition of the probiotic in the post-weaning diet trended towards improved dry matter intake, growth performance, feed conversion ratio, and nutrients digestibility.

Productive and Reproductive Performance and Metabolic Profile of Barki Ewes Supplemented with Two Forms of Probiotics as Feed Additives.

“…The present results also showed that both MPP and MPL treatments possessed a significant effect on productivity, reproductive performance and metabolic profiles of Barki ewes. The results obtained concerning the utilization of dry matter and other nutrients in groups with MPP and MPL were in agreement with those reported by Saleem et al (2017) who obtained that dry matter intake nutrients digestibility of lambs were positively influenced by adding different levels of probiotics supplementation. Also, Gomaa et al (2016) found that treated rice straw by bacterial enzymes (MPL) led to improve total digestible nutrient, digested crude protein and nitrogen balance of sheep.…”

Endocrine and hematobiochemical profile of lambs raised in a semiarid region with different growth potentials during the postweaning period

“…Recently it was reported that serum biochemistry is a useful tool in the clinical diagnosis of various systemic states and growth performance of lambs (34). We have observed significantly higher blood concentrations of ALT and ALP in SG lambs compared to FG lambs.…”

Combined Use of C. butyricum Sx-01 and L. salivarius C-1-3 Improves Intestinal Health and Reduces the Amount of Lipids in Serum via Modulation of Gut Microbiota in Mice

“…Studies have shown that probiotics can enhance antioxidant ability [ 40 , 41 ]. Consistent with our results, the findings showed that serum antioxidant abilities were significantly enhanced while using L. plantarum [ 42 ], L. johnsonii BS15 [ 43 ] and yeast [ 44 ].…”