Effect of lactic acid bacteria in the diet of female crossbred cattle calves fed on grain based or grainless concentrate mixtures Das K. C., Kamra D. N.*, Pathak N. N.1 Centre of Advanced Studies in Animal Nutrition Indian Veterinary Research Institute Izatnagar - 243 122, India *Reprint request: Dr. D.N. Kamra, Tel.: 0091-581-442313; Fax: 0091-581-447284; E-mail: kamra@ivri.up.nic.in
1Present address: Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Sirsa Road, Hisai - 125 001, India.
Abstract Thirtytwo crossbred (Bos indicus x Bos taurus) female cattle calves were divided into four groups of 8 animals each i.e. GC (grain based concentrate with lactic acid bacteria), GCo (grain based concentrate without lactic culture), GoC (grainless concentrate with lactic culture) and GoCo (grainless concentrate without lactic culture). The lactic acid bacteria culture was given in the form of milk fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. jugarti and L. casei. The feeding of lactic acid bacteria resulted in a reduced incidence of diarrhoea and the number of days on which positive symptoms of diarrhoea were observed in the animals. The digestibilities of organic matter, neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre were significantly higher (P<0.05) on culture supplementation in animals fed on grainless concentrate. The feed conversion efficiency was improved accompanied with lower intake of nutrients in probiotic fed animals, but the differences among the treatment could not cross the levels of statistical significance. Top Key words Lactic acid bacteria, calves, probiotics, Lactobacillus, growth, diarrhoea. Top |