Livestock Research for Rural Development 22 (7) 2010 Notes to Authors LRRD Newsletter

Citation of this paper

Effect of yeast culture supplementation on nutrient utilization in Graded Murrah buffalo bull calves

D Srinivas Kumar, J Rama Prasad, E Raghava Rao and K Sarjan Rao*

College of Veterinary Science, Gannavaram A.P India 521102
kumardhulipalla@rediffmail.com
* College of Veterinary Science, Produttur, India

Abstract

An investigation was carried out at Buffalo Research Station, Venkataramannagudem to study the effect of yeast culture (Levucell SC20) supplementation on nutrient utilization in Graded Murrah buffalo bull calves. A metabolism trial was conducted after 120 days of feeding using twelve graded Murrah buffalo bull calves (200 ± 7.96 kg) to assess the effect of yeast culture (Levucell SC20;   Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I – 1077 strain)  supplementation on intake, digestibility of nutrients and retention of nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus.

 

The DMI (kg / 100 kg BW) was lower (P>0.05) in the yeast culture supplemented group compared with the control. The average digestibility coefficients of DM, EE, and NDF (P<0.05), OM, CP, CF, ADF and cellulose (P<0.01) increased significantly with yeast culture supplementation in the diet compared with the control. All the buffalo bull calves were in positive N, Ca and P balances. N (P<0.01), Ca and P (P<0.05) balances (g/day) were significantly higher in the yeast culture supplemented group compared with the control. The % DCP (P>0.05) and TDN (P<0.01) content increased with yeast culture supplementation in the diet compared with the control.

Key words: Dry matter intake, nutrient digestibility


Introduction

Modern animal production requires the use of safe and effective feed additives as rumen manipulators to increase animal productivity. Of late, the use of antibiotics and growth promoters in animal production has been strongly discouraged in most nations. One of the potential alternatives for antibiotics are direct fed microbials (DFM) also known as probiotics.

 

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one of the most widely used probiotic in the livestock feeding. Yeast culture has been shown to improve the nutrient supply to the animal at a fixed intake which in turn improved the live weight gain and production performance of animals (Huber et al 1989; Panda et al 1995; Mutsvangwa et al 1992). Live yeast culture (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) has been reported to have a favourable effect on the rumen environment, especially in increasing the fibre digestibility (Walli 1994).

 

Levucell SC 20 is a commercial product containing live yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM 1-1077). As per the recommendation Levucell SC 20 should be added at 0.25 g / animal / day. Little work has been carried out to study the effect of inclusion of live yeast in the diets of buffalo calves. Hence, the present experiment was carried out to study the effect of dietary supplementation of yeast culture on nutrient utilization in buffalo bull calves.

 

Materials and methods 

The study was carried out at Buffalo Research Station, Venkataramannagudem of Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Tirupati. Twelve graded Murrah buffalo bull calves (200 ± 7.96 kg) and on an average 14 to 15 months of age were randomly divided into two equal groups of six animals each (control and Yeast supplemented group). All the animals were housed in well ventilated sheds provided with individual feeding and watering arrangements and were dewormed and vaccinated against HS and FMD before the start of the experiment.

 

Feeding regimen

 

During the trial, calves in both the groups were offered a conventional concentrate mixture early in the morning at 8.00 AM to meet the protein requirements for maintenance and growth for 500 g/d (ICAR 1998) and chopped Guinea fodder ad libitum. In the yeast supplemented group, the concentrate mixture was supplemented with yeast culture (Levucell SC20) at 0.25 g / animal /day. After 120 days of feeding, a 6 day metabolism trial was conducted by shifting the animals to metabolism stalls 5 days prior to collection period for adaptation. Body weights were recorded for two consecutive days prior to start and after the metabolism trial and the average was taken as the actual body weight.

 

During the metabolism trial, the amount of feed (Conc. mix and chopped Guinea fodder) offered, residues left and faeces and urine voided was recorded. Daily representative samples of the feeds, residues, faeces and urine were collected and pooled animal wise. The samples were analysed for proximate constituents (AOAC 1997) and fibre fractions (Van Soest et al 1991). Estimation of calcium and phosphorous in feed and faeces was done as per Talapatra  et al (1940) and in urine samples was done according to the methods described by Ferro and Ham (1957) and Fiske and Subba Row (1925), respectively.

 

The data were subjected to test of significance (Snedecor and Cochran 1976).

 

Results and discussion   

The composition of Guinea fodder and concentrate mixture fed to the bull calves during the trial were presented in table 1.


Table 1.  Chemical Composition (on % DMB except for DM) of Guinea fodder and Concentrate mixture fed to buffalo bull calves

S.No.

Nutrient

Guinea fodder

Concentrate mix.

1.

Dry Matter

29.1

91.2

2.

Organic Matter

89.5

92.3

3.

Crude Protein

8.96

19.6

4.

Ether Extract

2.54

5.14

5.

Crude Fibre

37.0

12.1

6.

Nitrogen Free Extract

41.0

55.5

7.

Total ash

10.5

7.66

8.

Neutral Detergent Fibre

76.6

33.5

9.

Acid Detergent Fibre

49.1

17.8

10.

Cellulose

38.8

13.0

11.

Hemi-cellulose

27.5

15.7

12.

Calcium

1.29

1.39

13.

Phosphorous

0.52

0.42

The daily dry matter intake (DMI) calculated in terms of kg / 100 kg BW decreased in buffalo bull calves supplemented with yeast culture in the diet as compared to the control group (Table 2).


Table 2.  Effect of dietary inclusion of yeast culture on intake, digestibility of nutrients and plane of nutrition in buffalo bull calves

Particulars

Control Group

Yeast supplemented Group

SEM

P

Dry matter intake

 

 

 

 

kg / d

5.51

5.71

0.09

0.32

kg / 100 kg BW

2.84

2.74

0.06

0.47

Digestibility, % 

 

 

 

 

Dry Matter

56.9

59.9

0.66

0.014

Organic Matter

58.8

62.0

0.65

0.005

Crude Protein

59.5

62.6

0.58

0.001

Ether Extract

68.2

70.8

0.57

0.015

Crude Fibre                   

52.8

56.7

0.75

0.002

Nitrogen Free Extract  

62.0

64.8

0.74

0.052

Neutral Detergent Fibre

56.2

59.4

0.71

0.014

Acid Detergent Fibre

52.5

56.0

0.69

0.003

Cellulose                       

57.8

61.2

0.67

0.002

Hemi-cellulose              

62.3

65.2

0.93

0.123

Nutrient intake, g / kg BW

 

 

 

 

DCP intake

2.00

2.03

0.04

0.788

TDN intake

15.8

16.1

1.11

0.711

Plane of nutrients

 

 

 

 

DCP, %

7.06

7.40

0.09

0.053

TDN, %

55.7

58.7

0.61

0.005

It is observed that inclusion of yeast culture in the diet had no significant effect (P>0.05) on the average DMI (kg / 100 kg BW) between the two groups (Table 2). This is in agreement with Kumar and Ramana (2008) who reported non-significant decrease (P>0.05) in DMI (kg / 100 kg BW). However, contradictory observations like no change (Erdman and Sharma 1989) or increase in the DMI (Putnam et al 1997) by yeast supplementation have also been reported. The digestibility co-efficients of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude fibre (CF), NDF, ADF and cellulose showed significant differences between control and treatment groups, while those of nitrogen free extract (NFE) and hemi-cellulose increased with yeast supplementation in the diet but the differences were not significant. The improvement in digestibility could be due to increased rate of fibre breakdown (Dawson et al 1990). Mahender et al (2006), Kumar and Reddy (2004) and Kumar and Ramana (2008) also reported improvement in digestibility of nutrients in ruminants on feeding Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where as Carro et al (1992) observed no effect. The DCP (%) content increased (P>0.05) with yeast culture in the diet compared to the control group. Further, DCP intake expressed in terms of g / kg BW in both the groups was higher than the requirement (1.65 g / kg BW) suggested by ICAR (1998). The higher DCP content recorded in the yeast culture supplemented group of buffalo calves may be attributed to their higher intakes of protein and CP digestibility (%) as compared with the control. The TDN (%) content increased significantly (P<0.01) with yeast culture supplementation in the diet of buffalo bull calves when compared to the control reflecting the increased digestibilities of nutrients in the yeast culture supplemented group of buffalo bull calves. The TDN intake expressed in terms of g / kg BW in both the groups was higher than the requirement (15.5 g / kg BW) suggested by ICAR (1998). Reddy and Bhima (2003) and Kumar and Ramana (2008) reported improved DCP and TDN content of diets supplemented with yeast culture in Deoni calves.

 

The bull calves of both the groups had positive nitrogen, calcium and phosphorous balances (Table 3).


Table 3.  Effect of dietary inclusion of yeast culture on intake and balance (g/d) of N, Ca and P in buffalo bull calves

Parameter

Control Group

Yeast supplemented Group

SEM

P

Nitrogen, g/d

 

 

 

 

Intake

104

107

1.36

0.260

N outgo, g/d

 

 

 

 

In Faeces

42.3

40.3

0.80

0.223

In Urine

38.6

40.0

0.79

0.378

Total

80.9

80.4

1.23

0.837

N retention

 

 

 

 

g/d

23.3

27.1

0.75

0.005

Per cent of intake

22.5

25.2

0.63

0.022

Per cent of absorbed

37.8

40.3

0.89

0.164

Calcium, g/d

 

 

 

 

Intake

71.2

73.9

1.29

0.315

Ca outgo, g/d

 

 

 

 

In Faeces

47.9

47.8

1.08

0.961

In Urine

4.67

4.85

0.39

0.825

Total

52.6

52.7

1.02

0.973

Ca retention

 

 

 

 

g/d

18.6

21.2

0.63

0.028

Per cent of intake

26.1

28.8

0.69

0.048

Per cent of absorbed

80.1

81.5

1.38

0.625

Phosphorous, g/d

 

 

 

 

Intake

27.1

28.1

0.49

0.328

P outgo, g/d

 

 

 

 

In Faeces

7.97

6.63

0.31

0.021

In Urine

1.81

1.98

0.08

0.272

Total

9.78

8.61

0.31

0.049

P retention

 

 

 

 

g/d

17.4

19.5

0.46

0.009

Per cent of intake

64.0

69.4

1.03

0.001

Per cent of absorbed

90.5

90.7

0.39

0.798

The nitrogen retention expressed as g/d and as % of intake increased significantly with yeast culture supplementation in the diet compared to control group. The higher values of nitrogen balance and retention in yeast supplemented group could possibly be due to comparatively higher dry matter intake and digestibility of protein as a result of stimulated proteolytic bacterial count on yeast supplementation (Yoon and Stern 1996). The calcium balance expressed as g/d and as % of intake was higher (P<0.05) in yeast supplemented group as compared to un-supplemented group. Similarly, phosphorous balance expressed as g/d and as % of intake was significantly higher in yeast supplemented group as compared to the control group. These results indicated that yeast had marked influence on calcium and phosphorous balance (Mahender et al 2006).

 

Conclusions    

 

Acknowledgments

This paper formed part of the Ph.D Thesis submitted by the first author to SVVU, Tirupati.

 

References 

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Received 16 January 2010; Accepted 2 April 2010; Published 1 July 2010

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