Application of Probiotic and Prebiotic in Animals Production: A Review

For several decades, antibiotics and che- motherapeutics in prophylactic dosages have been used in animals, however there are increasing con- cerns about the risk of developing cross-resistance and multiple antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bac- teria in both human and livestock. One alternative to reduce these problems is the use of some growth pro- moters like probiotics and prebiotics which have posi- tive effect on animal's growth performance. Public disapproval of the use of antibiotics and growth hor- mones in livestock production necessitates the use of probiotics in the feeding of farm animals. One of the most important probiotic, yeast culture (YC) supplements containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are known to be rich source of enzymes, vitamins, other nutrients and important co-factors, have been reported to produce a variety of beneficial produc- tion responses. These include growth rate, feed in- take, feed efficiency, milk composition, egg produc- tion and reproduction in ruminants, poultry, pigs and horses. It inhibits the pathogen by competition for colonization sites or nutritional sources and produc- tion of toxic compounds. Benefits of probiotics also include: strengthening of the immune system, pre- vention and treatment of diarrhea and enhancement of resistance against pathogens. Probiotics are de- fined as live microorganisms that may beneficially affect the host upon ingestion by improving the bal- ance of the intestinal microflora. Commonly used probiotics are Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactoba- cillus bifidus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacil- lus casei, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus lactis, Bifidobacterim bifidum, Enterococcus feccium, Streptococcus faecium and Streptococcus thermophilus. However, there has been a recent in- crease in research on feeding Lactobacillus to live- stock. Prebiotics are defined as a nondigestible but fermentable food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon. Commonly used prebiotics are oligosaccha- rides i.e., fructo oligosaccharides (FOS), mannon oli- gosaccharides (MOS), lactulose, inulin. It is also widely used in animals to improve growth rate, in- crease milk yield, meat and egg production.