Use of direct fed microbial (DFM) as rumen modifier to improve animal performance is a good alternative source of antibiotics since, use of antibiotics in animal feed is of enormous concern for human health. Many microbial species are recommended as feed additives in ruminant nutrition and among them the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) has been found to exert a beneficial effect on the enhanced uptake of nutrients in ruminants. Yeast cells contain different vitamins, enzymes and some unidentified cofactors which improve the microbial activity and growth rate of the rumen microflora (Robinson and Erasmus, 2009), boost hemicelluloses degradability (Lascano et al., 2009) and have positive effects on the absorption of some minerals. Inclusion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in ruminants’ diets has been shown to alter the molar proportion of ruminal volatile fatty acids reduce rumen ammonia concentration, increase the number of ruminal bacteria and protozoa and alter the flow of the nitrogen fraction to the duodenum (Dawson, 1993). Supplementation of live yeast culture to young ruminants had positive effects on performance, which was evidenced by increased DM intake and body weight gain, feed conversion efficiency, changes in hip height and width (Stella et al., 2007) while similar or reduced growth rate and feed conversion efficiency were also reported by Tripathi and Karim (2010). Keeping therefore said properties of yeast probiotic in view, the present investigation was planned to investigate the effect of dietary inclusion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on nutrient intake, nutrient utilization and haemato-biochemical profile of kids.

Materials and Methods

Location and Climate

The present study was conducted in Animal Nutrition Department and in animal’s sheds of College of Veterinary Science & A.H., Mhow (Madhya Pradesh). Permission for using the animals for the experiment was duly taken from Institutional Animal Ethics committee (IAEC) constituted as per CPCSEA rules laid down by Government of India.

Animals, Diets and Treatment

Twelve growing indigenous goat kids of BW 11.43±0.68 (4-6 months of age) were randomly allotted to two experimental groups (T₀ and T₁) with 6 kids in each. Prior to experimentation, the kids were given 15 days adaptation period. The kids were offered gram straw, green Peepal leaves and concentrate mixture to meet their nutrient requirements as per ICAR, (2013) recommendation for a body weight gain of 50 g/day.

Table 1: Chemical composition of feeds offered to experimental kids (% DM basis)

All the experimental kids were fed on a basal diet comprised of concentrate mixture, green and gram straw. The concentrate mixture consisted of maize (30%), soybean (37%), wheat (10%), shorghum (10%), bajra (10%), mineral mixture (2%) and common salt (1%). In addition to basal diet, the animals of treatment group (T₁) were fed Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CNCMI-1077) @ 0.5 g/h/d (10 billion cfu) and the control group was remains unsupplemented. The study was conducted for 120 days. After 90 days of experimental feeding, a digestion trial of 6 days was conducted during this trial samples of feeds, residue and faecal were collected and analysed for proximate principles table 1 (AOAC, 2005) to assess the utilization and digestibility of nutrients. Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) were analysed according to the method of Van Soest et al. (1991). Blood was collected from all experimental animals at the 0 day and end of the feeding trial to study haemato-biochemical profile of kids. The serum glucose, total protein, albumin and globulin were estimated by using Erba diagnostic kits. With code No. 120200 (glucose), 120231 (total protein), 120223 (albumin).

Statistical Analysis

The data were subjected to statistical analysis (Snedecor and Cochran, 1994) using independent “t” test to find out significance of difference between the groups.

Results and Discussion

Effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on Nutrient Intake and Digestibility 

Results of the present study revealed that there was significant increase in dry matter intake in probiotic supplemented group; however, it did not affect the intake of digested dry matter (DDM) and DM digestibility of the animals between the groups (Table 2). The present findings are in conformity with Saleem et al. (2017) who concluded that a positive effect of probiotic supplementation on feed intake during post weaning period may be due to an increasing number and proportion of cellulolytic bacteria in the rumen and improved ruminal pH, which would be reflected by improved feed intake and fibre digestibility. Similarly, Stella et al. (2007) also observed that DMI was increased in Saanen goats fed with S. cerevisiae (CNCMI-1077) at 0.2 g/head/day for 12 weeks. The increased in DMI was also reported by various authors (Khalid et al., 2011), Macedo et al. (2006), Whereas, contrary to our results Kawas et al. (2007) found that yeast culture had no positive effect on the dry matter intake and live weight gain of finishing lambs. Similarly, Bruno et al. (2009) also reported no any significant change in feed intake in Holstein cows fed S. cerevisiae culture.

The digestibility of DM, OM, CP, EE, ADF, NDF and CF were similar in both the groups. Similar to our present finding, Tripathi et al. (2008) and Tripathi and Karim (2010) also reported no improvement in the digestibility of DM, OM, CP, NDF and ADF in both pre-weaner and weaner lambs supplemented with different yeast probiotics in high concentrate diet. In contrary to our results Shankhpal et al. (2016) showed that the digestibility coefficients of nutrients for DM, OM, CP, EE, CF, NDF and ADF were significantly (P<0.01) higher in yeast supplemented groups. Contrary to our results Hossain et al. (2012) also worked on Kankrej calves and reported that supplementation of S. cerevisiae as probiotic improved the digestibility of nutrients and rumen fermentation on growing Kankrej calves.

Table 2: Intake (g/d), digested (g/d) and digestibility (%) of various nutrients in experimental groups.

*shows significance at 5 % level as compared to control group (P<0.05); **shows significance at 1 % level as compared to control group (P<0.01)

Table 3: Plane of nutrition of experimental kids during digestion trial

*shows significance at 5 % level as compared to control group (P<0.05); **shows significance at 1 % level as compared to control group (P<0.01)

Effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on Blood-Biochemical Profile 

Haemoglobin (Hb) and packed cell volume (PCV) are the indicators of erythrocytic normal level and general well beings of animals. The Hb values were 8.62±0.40 to 8.98±0.19 g/dl between the groups at the end of the experiment and the values were comparable. Similarly, the PCV (%), RBC, WBC and platelets counts were also similar between the groups. Similar to our findings Otzule and Ilgaza (2015) reported that the PCV, haemoglobin, RBC and WBC number was comparable (P>0.05) between groups at 4^th and 8^th week of feeding probiotic and symbiotic, while contrary to our results there was significant increased in all haematological parameters (P<0.05) at the age of 12 weeks in treatment groups (Otzule and Ilgaza., 2015). Conversely to our results Dar et al. (2017) observed that the supplementation of probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic is advantageous in improving leucocyte count, haemoglobin content and packed cell volume in crossbred calves. The serum total protein concentration in healthy animals normally varies between 6.0 to 7.5 g/dl concentration of serum proteins depends on a variety of factors including extent, duration and is altered during liver and kidney diseases and extremely low values indicate inanition.

In the present study, serum total proteins remained within normal range and did not differ significantly (P>0.05) between the groups (Table 4). This indicates that experimental feeds had no deleterious effect on serum proteins. Similarly, the values of glucose, albumin, globulin and A:G ratio were comparable and non-significant between the groups at the end of experiment.

Table 4: Haematobiochemical parameters of experimental groups.

In agreement to the present study various authors (Ding et al., 2008) observed that there was no significant change in blood glucose level in probiotic supplement groups. Contrary to this Sayed (2003) has reported a significant increase in glucose concentration in kids and lactating ewe after probiotic supplementation. Similar findings have been observed in lambs (Hussein, 2014). An increase in serum glucose levels in supplemented animals may be attributed to gluconeogenesis, as after probiotic supplementation there is improvement in gluconeogenesis due to increased propionate production, which is the main precursor of glucose with a decisive influence on the glucose blood concentration in small ruminants. Similar to our results Saha et al. (2018) also found no change in serum total protein concentration in probiotic fed groups. In agreement with our results to our results El-Katcha et al. (2016) observed that there were no any changes in serum concentration of total protein and globulin in probiotic supplement groups. Conversely to our study, Hussein (2018) observed that there was significantly increased (P<0.05) in the values of plasma total protein and glucose, in probiotic supplemented with lambs with comparisons to control group. The differences between some previous studies and the results in this study might be due to the feeding strategy, environmental conditions, diet composition, type of forage, type and dose of yeast and type of yeast feeding.

Conclusion

From the results it can be concluded that the dietary supplementation of S. cerevisiae (CNCMI-1077) did not show any appreciable effect on digestibility of nutrients and haemato-biochemical profile of kids.

Acknowledgement

The authors express thankfulness to Lallem and Animal Nutrition for providing Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CNCMI-1077) and the Dean, College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry, Mhow for providing necessary facilities to carry out the experiment.

Funding

This work was supported by the College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry, Mhow.

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