Abstract
Simple SummaryConcern about the use of antimicrobial compounds in livestock production has promoted research of “generally recognized as safe” additive alternatives. Probiotics (living microorganisms) and prebiotics (certain type of carbohydrates derived from yeast) have been shown to alleviate the negative effects of stress and boost immunity, thereby enhancing efficiency of energy utilization. In some regions (i.e., tropical and arid zones), livestock experience adverse climatic conditions, including elevated ambient temperature and humidity, which affect their productivity. Supplementation with probiotics and prebiotics may help to alleviate these adverse effects. In the present study, supplemental probiotics or/and prebiotics improved dietary energetic efficiency in lambs finished under subtropical climatic conditions. The combination of probiotics with prebiotics reinforced this positive effect.The aim of this trial was to test the effects of the use of eubiotics (pro- and prebiotics) alone or in combination in the diet of lambs finished under subtropical climate conditions. For this purpose, 40 Pelibuey × Katahdin lambs (29.5 ± 4.8 kg initial live weight) were used in a 93 day growth-performance experiment. Dietary treatments consisted of a cracked corn-based finishing diet supplemented with (1) no eubiotics (control), (2) 3 g of probiotics (live Saccharomyces cerevisiae, SC), (3) 3 g of prebiotics (mannan oligosaccharide plus b-glucans, MOS), and (4) a combination of 1.5 g of SC and 1.5 g of MOS (SC+MOS). Throughout the study, the average temperature humidity index (THI) was 78.60. Compared to controls, supplementation with SC or MOS, alone did not affect average daily gain (ADG), but enhanced feed efficiency by 5.6% and 6.9% (gain-to-feed ratio, G:F) and dietary net energy by 4.6% and 5.9%, respectively. Compared to controls, SC+MOS enhanced ADG (10%), G:F (9.5%), and dietary net energy (7.2%). Lambs fed SC+MOS had also greater ADG, G:F, and dietary net energy compared to lambs fed SC alone. When compared to MOS, the combination enhanced ADG (10.4%, p = 0.04). This effect could be attributed to the increased dry matter intake (7.6%, p = 0.06), as neither G:F nor dietary energy was significantly affected. Compared with controls and SC, supplementation with MOS alone and SC+MOS increased kidney–pelvic–heart fat, while SC supplementation tended (p = 0.08) to reduce 4.1% the relative intestinal mass (as a proportion of empty body weight) when compared to controls. Treatment effects on the other carcass measures were not significant. In the present study, supplemental probiotics and/or prebiotics improved dietary energetic efficiency in lambs finished under subtropical climatic conditions. The combination of probiotics with prebiotics reinforced this positive effect.
Highlights
Among the strategies to reduce the negative effects of global warming on the productivity and health of livestock is antibiotic supplementation at a subtherapeutic level
In cattle finished under high environmental heat load, the use of antibiotics such as ionophores has shown benefits related to a reduction in energy requirements [1]
Under the same climatic conditions in which this experiment was conducted, finishing lambs daily supplemented with a combination of 1.5 g of live Saccharomyces cerevisiae plus 1.5 g of mannan oligosaccharide had greater total tract digestion of NDF and N, increased ruminal VFA concentration, and decreased ruminal concentration of hyper-ammonia ruminal bacteria than when fed with a dose of 3 g/lamb/day of each eubiotic [7]
Summary
Among the strategies to reduce the negative effects of global warming on the productivity and health of livestock is antibiotic supplementation at a subtherapeutic level In this sense, in cattle finished under high environmental heat load, the use of antibiotics such as ionophores has shown benefits related to a reduction in energy requirements [1]. Synbiotic supplementation may induce metabolic changes (increased plasmatic glucose, reduced cortisol levels, and reduced cellular oxidative stress) that promote efficiency of energy utilization under stress conditions [8,9,10]. These potentiating effects may be of particular benefit to lambs reared in subtropical and tropical environments. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of single or combined dietary supplementation of probiotics and prebiotics on growth performance, dietary energetics, and carcass characteristics in lambs finished under subtropical climatic conditions
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