摘要
Dietary probiotics have been shown to benefit cattle production; however, little is known about how they affect beef cattle temperament and stress. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to evaluate how dietary probiotics impact beef cattle performance and stress. Two treatments were used for this study: (1) control, receiving feed without probiotics and (2) probiotics, receiving feed containing 10 g per head per day of probiotics (Probios feed granules, Chr. Hansen Inc., Milwaukee, WI). Three groups of cattle were evaluated. Group 1 consisted of 7 weaned calves that were 7-10 months old and used a crossover experimental design where the calves were given each treatment for 3 weeks. Group 2 consisted of 33 female cattle ≥ 1 year of age and had treatments applied for 6 weeks using a randomized complete block design (control n = 16, probiotics n = 17). Group 3 consisted of calves that were nursing group 2 cows allocated to the control and probiotics treatment for 6 weeks (n = 8 per treatment). Weekly body weight, average daily gain, feed efficiency (group 2 only), chute exit velocity, behavior during a novel object test (group 1 and 2), and serum cortisol during weeks 0 and 6 (group 2) were measured. Group 1 cattle receiving probiotics had a greater overall change in body weight, average daily gain, and gain:feed (P ≤ 0.05). No differences in group 2 or 3 growth performance were observed (P > 0.10). No treatment effect was observed for group 1 weekly chute exit velocity; however, group 2 and 3 cattle of the probiotics treatment had an overall slower weekly chute exit speed compared with control cattle (P ≤ 0.02). No treatment differences were observed in serum cortisol concentrations in group 2 cattle during weeks 0 or 6 (P ≥ 0.72). During the novel object test, group 1 cattle receiving probiotics exited the arena slower and group 2 cattle receiving probiotics crossed zone lines more frequently and had less frequent vocalizations compared with control treatment cattle (P ≤ 0.05). These results suggest that dietary probiotics can improve performance in weaned, growing calves and may have benefits for cattle handling without negatively affecting cattle welfare with respect to stress.
摘要译文
膳食益生菌已被证明有利于养牛生产;然而，鲜为人知的是它们如何影响肉牛的气质和压力。因此，本研究的目的是评估膳食益生菌如何影响肉牛的表现和压力。本研究使用两种处理：（1）对照，接受不含益生菌的饲料和（2）益生菌，接受每头每天含10克益生菌的饲料（Probios饲料颗粒，Chr.Hansen Inc.，Milwaukee，WI）。评估了三组牛。第1组由7只7-10个月大的断奶小牛组成，并使用交叉实验设计，其中小牛每次处理3周。第2组由33只≥1岁的雌性牛组成，并使用随机完全区组设计进行治疗6周（对照组n \x3d 16，益生菌n \x3d 17）。第3组由小牛组成，其中护理组2头奶牛分配给对照和益生菌治疗6周（每次治疗n \x3d 8）。每周体重，平均每日增重，测量饲料效率（仅第2组），斜槽出口速度，新物体测试期间的行为（组1和2）和第0周和第6周（组2）的血清皮质醇。接受益生菌的第1组牛的体重总体变化，平均日增重和增益：饲料（P≤0.05）。没有观察到组2或3生长性能的差异（P 0。10）。第1组每周滑槽出口速度没有观察到处理效果;然而，与对照牛相比，益生菌处理的第2组和第3组牛的每周滑槽速度总体上较慢（P≤0.02）。在第0周或第6周，第2组牛的血清皮质醇浓度没有观察到治疗差异（P≥0.72）。在新颖的物体测试中，与对照处理牛相比，接受益生菌更慢地退出竞技场并且第2组牛更频繁地接受益生菌交叉区域线并且发声频率较低（P≤0。05）。这些结果表明，膳食益生菌可以改善断奶时的表现，种植牛犊可能对牛的处理有益，而不会对牛的压力产生负面影响。
Alexis J.Kelsey;Jessica D.Colpoys;. Effects of dietary probiotics on beef cattle performance and stress[J]. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 2018,27: 8-14