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Probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Strain H57 Improves the Performance of Pregnant and Lactating Ewes Fed a Diet Based on Palm Kernel Meal
Abstract
Probiotic supplements are single or mixed strain cultures of live microorganisms that benefit the host by improving the properties of the indigenous microflora (Seo et al 2010). In a pilot study at the University of Queensland, Norton et al (2008) found that Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Strain H57 (H57), primarily investigated as an inoculum to make high-quality hay, improved feed intake and nitrogen utilisation over several weeks in pregnant ewes. The purpose of the following study was to further challenge the potential of H57 -to show it survives the steam-pelleting process, and that it improves the performance of ewes fed pellets based on an agro-industrial by-product with a reputation for poor palatability, palm kernel meal (PKM), (McNeill 2013). Thirty-two first-parity White Dorper ewes (day 37 of pregnancy, mean liveweight = 47.3 kg, mean age = 15 months) were inducted into individual pens in the animal house at the University of Queensland, Gatton. They were adjusted onto PKM-based pellets (g/kg drymatter (DM): PKM, 408; sorghum, 430; chick pea hulls, 103; minerals and vitamins; Crude protein, 128; ME: 11.1MJ/kg DM) until day 89 of pregnancy and thereafter fed a predominately pelleted diet incorporating with or without H57 spores (10 9 colony forming units (cfu)/kg pellet, as fed), plus 100g/ewe/day oaten chaff, until day 7 of lactation. From day 7 to 20 of lactation the pelleted component of the diet was steadily reduced to be replaced by a 50:50 mix of lucerne: oaten chaff, fed ad libitum, plus 100g/ewe/day of ground sorghum grain with or without H57 (10 9 cfu/ewe/day). The period of adjustment in pregnancy (day 37-89) extended beyond expectations due to some evidence of mild ruminal acidosis after some initially high intakes that were followed by low intakes. During that time the diet was modified, in an attempt to improve palatability, by the addition of oaten chaff and the removal of an acidifying agent (NH4Cl) that was added initially to reduce the risk of urinary calculi. Eight ewes were removed due to inappetence, leaving 24 ewes to start the trial at day 90 of pregnancy. From day 90 of pregnancy until day 63 of lactation, liveweights of the ewes and their lambs were determined weekly and at parturition. Feed intakes of the ewes were determined weekly. Once lambing began, 1 ewe was removed as it gave birth to twin lambs (whereas the rest gave birth to a single lamb), 4 due to the loss of their lambs (2 to dystocia), and 1 due to copper toxicity. The PKM pellets were suspected to be the cause of the copper toxicity and so were removed in early lactation. Hence, the final statistical analysis using STATISTICA 8 (Repeated measures ANOVA for feed intake, One-way ANOVA for liveweight change and birth weight) was completed on 23 ewes for the pregnancy period (n = 11 fed H57; n = 12 control), and 18 ewes or lambs for the lactation period (n = 8 fed H57; n = 10 control). From day 90 of pregnancy until parturition the H57 supplemented ewes ate 17% more DM (g/day: 1041 vs 889, sed = 42.4, P = 0.04) and gained more liveweight (g/day: 193 vs 24.0, sed = 25.4, P = 0.0002), but produced lambs with a similar birthweight (kg: 4.18 vs 3.99, sed = 0.19, P = 0.54). Over the 63 days of lactation the H57 ewes ate similar amounts of DM but grew slower than the control ewes (g/day: 1.5 vs 97.0, sed = 21.7, P = 0.012). The lambs of the H57 ewes grew faster than those of the control ewes for the first 21 days of lactation (g/day: 356 vs 265, sed = 16.5, P = 0.006). These data support the findings of Norton et al (2008) and Kritas et al (2006) that certain Bacillus spp. supplements can improve the performance of pregnant and lactating ewes. In the current study we particularly highlighted the capacity of H57 to stimulate immature ewes to continue to grow maternal tissue through pregnancy, possibly through an enhanced appetite, which appeared then to stimulate a greater capacity to partition nutrients to their lambs through milk, at least for the first few weeks of lactation, a critical time for optimising lamb survival. To conclude, H57 can survive the steam pelleting process to improve feed intake and maternal liveweight gain in late pregnancy, and performance in early lactation, of first-parity ewes fed a diet based on PKM.
... B. amyloliquefaciensstrain H57 when fed to pregnant White Dorper ewes on a palm kernel-based diet, increased DM intake and live weight gain during pregnancy, followed by better performance of the lambs during early lactation (Le, O and et al, 2014). The same strain of B. amyloliquefacienswhen fed to dairy calves at the rate of 3.16 ×108 cfu per kg dietary DM from week 4 to 12 improved growth rate by 39% (551 vs 767 g/day), increased feed use efficiency by 14% (2.5 vs 2.9 kg milk + starter DM/kg weight gain) (Frizzo, L, 2011). ...
... In the USA, microorganisms used for consumption purposes should have the Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) status, regulated by the FDA. In Europe, EFSA introduced the term of Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) (Le, O and et al, 2014). The QPS concept involves some additional criteria of the safety assessment of bacterial supplements, including the history of safe usage and absence of the risk of acquired resistance to antibiotics. ...
... If improperly cooked, livestock fed of probiotics that are consumed by humans as food may also pose as a possible source of antibiotic resistance genes for the human gut microbiota. Therefore, given the emerging risk of spreading antibiotic resistance genes through probiotic strains, the QPS is considered by many as the more applicable and flexible probiotics criteria (Le, O and et al, 2014). On the other hand, Comprehensive studies have shown that there are no hazards for probiotic users. ...
... Supplementation with spore-forming Bacillus probiotics have been reported to have positive effects on the nutritional attributes that can enhance growth parameters in ruminants (El-Sayed and Mousa, 2020;Jenny et al., 1991;Jia et al., 2018;Le et al., 2014), which we were also able to confirm in the current study. Bacillus species are also known to produce a wide spectrum of antimicrobial peptides, bacteriocins and other extracellular bioactive compounds (Elshaghabee et al., 2017), which may control microbial activity in the intestinal tract (Bajagai et al., 2016). ...
... Prebiotics isolated from healthy goat, when fed to goats for eight weeks, commencing at 75 days of age, resulted in improve-ment in average body weight by 9% (Apas et al., 2010) 9 . Similar improved growth rate was obtained with a yeast-based commercial probiotic containing S. cerevisiae given to growing dairy heifers (Ghazanfar et al., 2015) 10 when fed to pregnant white Dorper ewes on a palm kernel-based diet, increased DM intake and live weight gain during pregnancy, followed by better performance of the lambs during early lactation (Le et al., 2014) 11 . Likewise, a novel bacterial strain isolated in Australia, P. jensenii 702, significantly enhanced weight gain in Holstein calves by (25%) during the pre-weaning period and by (50%) during the weaning period ( 13 , based on meta-analysis of 21 publications between 1985 and 2010, concluded that lactic acid prebiotics bacteria in comparisons with and without L. acidophilus, L. plantarum, L. salivarius, E. faecium, L. caseilparacasei or Bifidobacterium spp., increased body weight gain (standardized mean difference = 0.22822, 95% confidence interval = 0.1006 to 0.4638) and improved feed use efficiency (standardized mean difference = -8.141, ...
This study was carried out to study the interest of the incorporation of a dead yeast culture Saccharomyces in the feed and to see its effect on growth, the intake and the digestibility in vitro of the cattle of fattening.
... The H57 strain has also been promoted as a hay-making additive to inhibit spoilage and was serendipitously also found to improve feed intake and liveweight of pregnant ewes fed hay in a short-term trial (Norton et al. 2008). More recently, in a larger trial, H57 added to pellets based on palm kernel meal and sorghum increased feed intake and liveweight gain of ewes throughout late pregnancy until lambing (Le et al. 2014). The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of H57-inoculated pellets on the performance and health of another class of ruminant that commonly responds to probiotics, the dairy calf, as they transition through weaning and the calf-rearing shed to the paddock. ...
A spore-forming probiotic, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain H57 (H57), was administered to dairy calves in starter pellets to determine effects on liveweight gain, feed conversion efficiency and animal health under summer feeding conditions, without antibiotics. Twenty-four male and female calves were allocated into two groups and from 4 weeks of age individually offered 6 L/day of whole milk and ad libitum starter pellets impregnated with H57 (3.16 × 108 cfu per kg DM) or without (Control) until 12 weeks of age. The calves were housed in a non-air-conditioned animal house, with deep-straw bedding over concrete, under typically challenging subtropical summer conditions. After 12 weeks the calves were released into a grazing paddock as one group and were supplemented ad libitum with control pellets and hay, until 19 weeks of age. From Weeks 4 to 12, liveweight and feed intakes were measured weekly and health status was monitored daily. Rumen fluid and blood were collected at Weeks 4 and 12, and to test for persistence after cessation of feeding H57, each were measured again at Week 19. From Weeks 4 to 12, the H57 calves grew faster (767 vs 551 g/day, P ≤ 0.01), tended to consume more pellets (1013 vs 740 g DM/day, P ≤ 0.07) and were 19% more feed conversion efficiency (2.43 vs 2.90 kg milk + starter DM/kg weight gain, P ≤ 0.01) compared with the Control calves. The mean duration of each diarrhoea event was 2 days less for the H57 calves than the Control (P ≤ 0.01). The H57 calves weaned 9 days earlier (P ≤ 0.02) and were heavier at Week 19 (155 vs 139 kg, P ≤ 0.03) than the Control calves. The only effect of H57 on rumen volatile fatty acid concentrations was an elevation in valerate at Week 12 (4.10 vs 2.47 mmol/L, P ≤ 0.03). Plasma β-hydroxy butyrate was also elevated in the H57 calves at Week 19 (0.24 vs 0.20 mmol/L), indicating the potential of H57 to improve rumen development. H57 can be used to improve the nutritional performance and reduce the risk of diarrhoea in dairy calves as they transition from milk to dry feed.
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