Effect of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Products on Performance and Plasma Glucose and Nefa Concentration in Bottle Fed Calves

The use of microbial additives in rations has become a common practice in ruminant’s nutrition. The main purpose on their use is to increase cattle performance and production from early stages. Their active principle is unclear, but some of their compounds are known to have an effect over performance and gut health. One of these additives are yeast cultures like Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation products (SCFP). The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of SCFP on growth, DMI, and plasma glucose and NEFA concentration in bottle fed calves. Eighty newborn heifers (n=40 per treatment), block by birth day, were involved in the experiment. Immediately after they were born they were randomly assigned to a control (C) treatment or SCFP supplemented treatment. Calves in C received 2 L of colostrum at birth, 12 and 24 hours after birth and 3 L of milk twice a day. They were offered ad-libitum access to a solid concentrate since day 3. Calves on SPFC received similar feeding but 1 g of SCFP (Smart Care) was added daily on the colostrum or milk in the morning feeding, and 0.7% of SCFP (NutriTek) was added to the solid feed. Body weight (BW, kg) was recorded at birth and on days 14 and 30. Dry feed offered was measured daily and refusals were measured twice a week for 2 weeks. Data was combined to obtain a weekly average daily DMI. Blood was sampled on days 7 and 14 to evaluate plasma glucose and NEFA concentration. Data was analyzed as a randomized complete block design with repeated measurements (SAS 9.4). The model included the random effect of birth day (block), and the fixed effect of treatment, time and the interaction of treatment by time. There was no effect on BW (P=0.20), DMI (P>0.6) nor plasma glucose concentration (P=0.63) but there was a time by treatment effect on plasma NEFA concentration (P=0.04) in which C had a plasma NEFA concentration of 267.1 and 206.6±15.58 µM for day 7 and 14 and SCFP had a 238.3 and 235.1 ±14.55µM for day 7 and 14, respectively. Therefore, feeding SCFP might contribute in a lower fat mobilization when compared with C during the first week of life, possible due to a reduction on an energetic challenge on a healthier gut. However, more research needs to be done to address this specific area of study.