Abstract
In China, the use of antibiotics growth promoters as feed additives has been banned. The goal of raising dairy heifers is to gain a relatively high body weight on a high-fiber diet at first mating or calving, thus increasing economic benefits. The objective of this experiment was to explore the effects of supplemental Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) on growth performance, rumen fermentation and microbiota, and blood parameters in Holstein heifers. Twenty Holstein heifers [mean ± standard deviation (SD); age = 182 ± 4.20 d, body weight = 197.53 ± 5.94 kg, dry matter intake (DMI) = 6.10 ± 0.38 kg] were randomly assigned to one of two diets group for a 42-day feeding period: (1) basal diet (an untreated control group, i.e., the CON group) or (2) basal diet plus daily 2 × 108 (colony-forming unit, CFU) of C. butyricum per kg of DMI per heifer (the CB group). The results demonstrated that C. butyricum supplementation increased the average daily gain from d 21 to 42 and DMI compared to the control group. Supplementation with C. butyricum significantly decreased the molar proportion of acetate and the acetate to propionate ratio but increased the molar proportion of butyrate and propionate. Compared with the control group, the relative abundance of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Ruminococcus albus, Ruminobacter amylophilus, Ruminococcus flavefaciens, and Streptococcus bovis increased during the trial period in the CB group. However, C. butyricum had no significant effect on the blood parameters in Holstein heifers. In conclusion, these results show that feeding C. butyricum can improve growth performance and rumen fermentation without any negative impact on blood parameters in Holstein heifers.
Highlights
The heifer stage is a vigorous period of growth and development for dairy cows because muscles, bones, and organs grow rapidly during this period
dry matter intake (DMI) was increased with increasing C. butyricum supplementation dose (6.76 vs. 7.12 kg; P < 0.0001) and was influenced by time (P < 0.0001), but not by treat × time
Apparent digestibility was not measured in this study, the positive effect of C. butyricum LXKJ-1 on growth performance can be inferred from the increasing in average daily gain (ADG) and DMI of dairy heifers
Summary
The heifer stage is a vigorous period of growth and development for dairy cows because muscles, bones, and organs grow rapidly during this period. Many microbial species have been approved as feed additives, such as Clostridium butyricum, which can improve digestibility and growth performance by improving intestinal health [3,4,5,6]. Several studies have shown that supplementation with C. butyricum can improve the growth performance of kuruma shrimp [9], Miichthys miiuy [10] and tilapia [4], increasing their antioxidant or immune capacity. It has been used as a dietary probiotic to benefit immune function and, more importantly, regulate the balance of intestinal flora in broiler chickens [11]. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with C. butyricum on growth performance, rumen fermentation, rumen microbiota and blood parameters in Holstein heifers
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