The Effect of Bovine Lactoferrin and Probiotic on Performance and Health Status of Ghezel Lambs in Preweaning Phase

Due to concern about antibacterial substances in animal nutrition; bioactive components such as lactoferrin and probiotic with health effects, can be used in some species that are more sensitive to pathogens. Thirty six suckling male Ghezel lambs in a completely randomized design employing a 2 × 3 factorial arrange-ment were used to study the effects of bovine lactoferrin (BLF) and probiotic on performance, blood and immune system parameters in the pre-weaning phase. Experimental treatments were as follow: 1) control (without BLF and probiotic), 2) 1 g/d probiotic, 3) 0.25 g/d BLF, 4) 0.25 g/d BLF and 1 g/d probiotic, 5) 0.5 g/d BLF, 6) 0.5 g/d BLF and 1 g/d probiotic. Final body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed effi-ciency (FE) were significantly affected by the treatments (P<0.05). Diet supplementation with BLF plus probiotic improved performance parameters more than diets without probiotics; however there is no differ-ence between BLF levels. No significant differences was found among health status indices except medi-cated days (P<0.05). Moreover, no differences were observed in erythrocyte, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). Conversly hemoglobin, white blood cells (WBC), segmented neutrophil and lymphocyte per-centag were significantly affected by the treatments (P<0.05). Additionally experimental treatments signifi-cantly changed plasma concentrations of Fe, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and glucose (P<0.05). Ac-cording to results of present experiment, it seems that BLF plus probiotic can have synergisc effect on per-formance and heath status of Ghezel lamb breed in preweaning phase.