Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-1079 (SB) as a feed additive on performance, diarrhea frequency, rectal temperature, heart rate, water consumption, cortisol level, and fecal bacteria population in Holstein calves (28 ± 1.6 days of age, body weight of 45.6 ± 1.44 kg, n = 16) under thermal neutral (TN) and heat stress (HS) conditions. During the TN period for 21 days (d 1 to 21), calves receiving SB showed quadratic or linear effects compared to the control group, showing higher dry matter intake (DMI, p = 0.002), and water consumption (p = 0.007) but lower frequency of fecal diarrhea (p = 0.008), rectal temperature (p < 0.001), heart rate (p < 0.001), and fecal microbiota at 21 day (Escherichia coli, p = 0.025; Enterobacteriaceae, p = 0.041). Meanwhile, calves exposed to HS for 7 days (d 22 to 28) receiving SB showed quadratic or linear effects compared to the control group, showing higher DMI (p = 0.002) but lower water consumption (p = 0.023), rectal temperature (p = 0.026), and cortisol level (p = 0.014). Our results suggest that live SB is useful in the livestock industry as an alternative to conventional medication (especially in times of suspected health problems) that can be added to milk replacer for young dairy calves experiencing HS.
Highlights
Young calves with diarrhea symptoms show morbidity and poor growth rates
Calves in each group were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: (1) control, a control milk replacer (Easy Bio System, Inc., Seoul, Korea); (2) low Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-1079 (SB) (LSB), control milk replacer supplemented with 0.5 g of SB; (3) medium SB (MSB), control milk replacer supplemented with 1.0 g of SB; and (4) high SB (HSB), control milk replacer supplemented with 2.0 g of SB
We investigated performance parameters of dry matter intake (DMI), water consumption, average daily gain (ADG), and feed efficiency of calves receiving SB during the thermal neutral (TN) period (d 1 to 21) and the heat stress (HS) period
Summary
Young calves with diarrhea symptoms show morbidity and poor growth rates. They can increase vaccination costs and mortality, which in turn could lead to severe economic losses for the livestockAnimals 2019, 9, 510; doi:10.3390/ani9080510 www.mdpi.com/journal/animalsAnimals 2019, 9, 510 industry worldwide [1]. Young calves with diarrhea symptoms show morbidity and poor growth rates. They can increase vaccination costs and mortality, which in turn could lead to severe economic losses for the livestock. Nutritional, environmental, and herd management factors such as housing type, colostrum intake, and hygienic conditions can be associated with field outbreaks, indicating that these factors may influence the severity and outcome of the disease [3,4]. Exposure of calves to HS causes poor growth performance due to reduced feed intake [5,6] and impaired homeostatic mechanisms, along with altered physiological status, including endocrine and immune systems [5,7,8]. Reduced feed intake coupled with lower physiological responses can cause poor growth, outbreak of calf diarrhea, and death in extreme cases
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