Effects of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FD777 and Macleaya cordata Extract on Performance, Immunity, Gastrointestinal System Microbiome, and Profitability in Holstein Calves
by
, , , ,
Mehmet Küçükoflaz
1,
Veli Özbek
2,
Berrin Kocaoğlu Güçlü
3,
Savaş Sarıözkan
4,
Can İsmail Zaman
1,*,
Erol Aydın
1,
Mustafa Makav
5,
Selma Büyükkılıç Beyzi
6,
Sena Yılmaz Öztaş
3 and
Merve Ayyıldız Akın
7 1
Department of Animal Health Economics and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafkas University, Kars P.O. Box 36000, Türkiye
2
Department of Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Erciyes University, Kayseri P.O. Box 38000, Türkiye
3
Department of Animal Nutrition and Nutritional Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri P.O. Box 38000, Türkiye
4
Department of Animal Health Economics and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri P.O. Box 38000, Türkiye
5
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafkas University, Kars P.O. Box 36000, Türkiye
6
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Erciyes, Kayseri P.O. Box 38000, Türkiye
7
Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafkas University, Kars P.O. Box 36000, Türkiye
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Animals 2025, 15(3), 313; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15030313
Submission received: 11 December 2024
/
Revised: 10 January 2025
/
Accepted: 16 January 2025
/
Published: 23 January 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Probiotics Application on Animal Health)
Simple Summary
The pre-weaning period is a critical time as calves are highly susceptible to disease and their health status can affect lifelong production performance. For this reason, various strategies are being developed for healthy calf production, such as the use of probiotics and phytobiotics in calf feeding. In this study, probiotic and plant extract improved calf health, morbidity and mortality rates, and profitability of calf production. These findings support the use of these feed additives in calf diets to reduce disease risks and increase performance, economic return, and farm sustainability.
Abstract
This study was performed to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FD777 (BA) and Macleaya cordata extract (MCE) on the performance, morbidity and mortality rates, body measurements, immunity, rumen parameters, antioxidant parameters, microbiome level, and profitability of calves during the pre-weaning period. In the study, 51 calves were divided into three groups as one control and two treatment groups considering their age (1 day old), gender (nine females and eight males in each group), and birth weight (37.7 ± 0.4 kg). The calves in the control group (CON) were fed milk without supplements whereas the first treatment group (BA) was fed milk containing 10 mL/day/head of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FD777 and the second treatment group (MCE) was fed milk containing 2 g/day/head of MCE. As a result, supplementing BA and MCE to calf milk had no significant effect on body weight (BW), dry matter intake (DMI), feed efficiency (FE), morbidity and mortality rates, rumen pH, IgG, IgA, and IgM values, and gastrointestinal microbiota (p > 0.05). On the other hand, it was determined that body weight gain (BWG), body length, body depth, rump width, withers height change, rump height change, rump width change, and serum GSH level increased significantly in the BA group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). According to the partial budget analysis, despite the additional cost of supplementing BA to the calf milk, no calf deaths and lower disease were observed in this group, unlike the other groups, resulting in a lowest calf rearing cost and highest profit. In calves receiving MCE, withers height, rump height, body length, rump width, body depth, chest circumference change, withers height change, rump height change, and rump width change values increased significantly compared with the control group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the results obtained not only reveal the positive effects of BA and MCE on calves during the pre-weaning period, but also encourage the necessity of investigating their effects on the long-term performance of animals and farm economies.
