Effect of a Multispecies Probiotic Mixture on the Growth and Incidence of Diarrhea, Immune Function, and Fecal Microbiota of Pre-weaning Dairy Calves.

Yanyan Wu,Cunxi Nie,Wenjun Zhang,Hongli Chen,Junli Niu,Lili Wang,Ruiqing Luo,Yongping Xu,Xiaoyu Li,Cheng Chen

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.681014

Yanyan Wu, Cunxi Nie + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.681014

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Abstract

The effects of different doses of a multispecies probiotic (MSP) mixture on growth performance, the incidence of diarrhea rate and immune function, and fecal microbial diversity and structure were evaluated in pre-weaning Holstein dairy calves at WK2, WK4, WK6, and WK8. Forty Chinese Holstein female newborn calves were randomly assigned to four treatments with 10 calves in each group, C (control group), T1 (0.5 g MSP/calf/day, T2 (1 g MSP/calf/day), and T3 (2 g MSP/calf/day) groups. The experimental period was 56 days. Feed intake and health scoring were recorded every day until the end of the experiment. Fecal contents and blood samples were sampled at WK2, WK4, WK6, and WK8. Growth performance, incidence of diarrhea, and total serum concentrations (IgA, IgG, and IgM) were analyzed. Bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal ITS genes were high-throughput sequenced for fecal microbiota. The relationships among the populations of the principal fecal microbiota at WK2 and the growth performance or serum immunoglobulin concentrations were analyzed using Pearson’s rank correlation coefficients. The MSP supplementation reduced the incidence of diarrhea in the first 4 weeks of life, and serum IgA, IgG, and IgM concentrations increased between WK2 and WK8 in the T3 group. There was an increase in growth performance and reduction in the incidence of diarrhea until WK4 after birth in T3 group, compared with the control, T1, and T2 groups. The results of fecal microbiota analysis showed that Firmicutes and Bacteroides were the predominant phyla, with Blautia, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005, norank_f__Muribaculaceae, Bacteroides, Subdoligranulum, and Bifidobacterium being the dominant genera in calf feces. Aspergillus, Thermomyces, and Saccharomyces were the predominant fungal phyla. Compared with the control, in T1 and T2 groups, the MSP supplementation reduced the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and increased the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Collinsella, and Saccharomyces at WK2 in group T3. Thus, the fecal microbial composition and diversity was significantly affected by the MSP mixture during the first 2 weeks of the calves’ life. MSP mixtures reduced the incidence of diarrhea in pre-weaning calves (during the first 4 weeks of life). There was a significant improvement in growth performance, reduction in calf diarrhea, balance in the fecal microbiota, and an overall improvement in serum immunity, compared with the control group. We, therefore, recommend adding 2 g/day of multispecies probiotic mixture supplementation in diets of dairy calves during their first 4 weeks of life before weaning.

Highlights

Neonatal diarrhea occurs frequently in dairy calves all over the world, causing huge economic and productivity losses that undermine healthy and sustainable development of animal husbandry (Donovan et al, 1998, 2002; El-Seedy et al, 2016)
Supplementation with Multispecies probiotics (MSPs) in group T2 significantly increased the average daily gain (ADG) of calves when compared with the control group (p < 0.05; Table 2)
There was a slight reduction in the incidence of diarrhea in calves in group T3 when compared with the control group at WK2 (12.14 vs. 25.11; p = 0.02)

Summary

Introduction

Neonatal diarrhea occurs frequently in dairy calves all over the world, causing huge economic and productivity losses that undermine healthy and sustainable development of animal husbandry (Donovan et al, 1998, 2002; El-Seedy et al, 2016). Multispecies probiotics (MSPs) were more effective than single-strain probiotics, especially in treating antibiotic-associated diarrhea in children (Ki et al, 2012; Łukasik and Szajewska, 2018), improving animal growth performance (Renaud et al, 2019), resisting bacterial infection (Perdigon et al, 1990; Avila et al, 1995; Lema et al, 2001; Woof and Kerr, 2006; Ehrenstein and Notley, 2010; Collumbien et al, 2012; Crassini et al, 2018), weight gain after stimulation post-enteritis (Renaud et al, 2019), and improving intestinal microbiota (Cruywagen et al, 1996; Chen et al, 2015; He et al, 2017; Hod et al, 2018; Biagioli et al, 2019)

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