Effect of Probiotic on Growth Performance and Frequency of Diarrhea in Neonatal Buffalo Calves

Neonatal calf diarrhea (NCD) is one of the common causes of illness and death in the pre-weaning calves in farms. Different methods to treat the diarrhea have been used including antibiotics, although it is forbidden now to use them. Probiotics are live microbial feed supplements which helpfully improve intestinal microbial balance in intestine and provide an alternative strategy to the traditional practice of the antibiotic usage. Throughout this study, the beneficial effects of probiotics were observed on animals including growth enhancement and disease prevention. Sixty-five newly born buffalo calves of both sexes aged from 3 days to 1 month, were fed on Milk Replacer in a private farm in Sharkia governorate were assessed to determine the effect of probiotic on growth performance, blood parameters and the prophylaxis of calf diarrhea in them. They were divided to 2 groups; Control group included 30 healthy calves fed on Milk Replacer without addition of probiotic and Probiotic group included 35 apparently healthy calves fed on Milk Replacer with addition of probiotic. Results revealed that calves initial body weight in the control group and in the probiotic group were 40.60 kg and 40.39 kg from the experiment start reaching 49.60 kg and 55.64 kg respectively at its end. Moreover, Probiotic reduced the incidence of diarrhea and was effective after two weeks of application may be as a result of an improved intestinal bacterial flora in calves supplemented with probiotics. Moreover, probiotic had no significant effect on any of the hematological and biochemical traits measured (P > 0.05). Usage of probiotics improves health condition of neonatal calves. Adding probiotic to milk replacer can be used to increase the daily weight gain, feed conversion efficiency and reduce the incidence of diarrhea