Probiotics and Prebiotics for the Health of Cattle

FRIZZO, L.S.; SIGNORINI, M.L.; ROSMINI, M.R

Probiotics and Prebiotics in Animal Health and Food Safety

Springer International Publishing AG

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2018; p. 155 - 174

Throughout the years the livestock production systems have evolved modifying thenatural resistance of animals against the diseases. These systems are characterized by new feeding methods (especially using unnatural feeds such as milk replacers), the intensive farming which limits the maternal contact and uses artificial habitat conditions, the use of animals with better growth parameters, and the use of antimicrobials substances. All these conditions increase the stress on animals, and digestive disorders become more frequent as a result of imbalance in the intestinal microbiota and generate a reduction in the natural resistance against contamination or pathogen colonization (James et  al. 1984; Savage 1987; Fuller 1992; Mulder et al. 1997).Intestinal disorders in farm animals are caused by imbalances in the intestinalmicrobiota. These disorders are frequent in intensive farming systems due to confinement of large numbers of animals in small areas, stress, and competition for feed, the reduced maternal contact, nonnatural feeding, and transport. Under these conditions the intestinal microbiota colonization is altered and facilitates the activity of pathogenic microorganisms (Rosmini et al. 2004). This intestinal imbalance in favor of pathogens brings about consequences on the animal health, reducing the profitability of farms and favoring disease transmission to humans by direct contact with ill animals or their feces or through the food chain (Rosmini et al. 2004; Frizzo et al. 2012, 2013; Signorini et al. 2012). To prevent and control intestinal infections, a current practice (especially inintensive rearing systems) is to use antibiotics, a strategy which may increase the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in meat and dairy products (McEwen and Fedorka-Cray 2002). The growing concern about the spread ofmicroorganisms resistant to antibiotics in humans has determined the ban on the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock (Schwarz et al. 2001). The food consumption with antibiotic residues causes many problems in public health, highlighting allergies and gastrointestinal disorders due to the alteration of the intestinal microbiota (Vassalo et al. 1997; Saarela et al. 2000). Another consequence of the antibiotic therapy is the negative impact on the beneficial microorganisms and the gastrointestinal imbalance (Parker 1990; Salminen et al. 1998).Therefore, feed companies and researchers have been looking for alternativeproducts and strategies that help to maintain intestinal health of the animal to prevent or reduce the prevalence of pathogens in the food chain. The use of probiotics has increased as an alternative therapy that prevents the use of antibiotics and, thus, reduces the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and residual antibiotics in animal foods (Santini et al. 2010).Therefore, the use of antibiotics has been geared more to preventing animalhealth problems during primary production than as preslaughter strategy to reduce the spread of foodborne pathogens and to reduce the impact on public health. Although antibiotics have enabled a significant increase in food production, the problems which have been generated have been important, and there is strong pressure from consumers and regulatory agencies to prohibit their use. In this sense, many authors have evaluated the effect of probiotic supplementation on growth performance and protection against pathogens in chickens (Pascual et al. 1999; Santini et al. 2010), pigs (Casey et al. 2007; Mallo et al. 2010; Ross et al. 2010), and calves (Abe et al. 1995; Abdala et al. 2001; Timmerman et al. 2005; Adams et al. 2008; Frizzo et al. 2010a) with promising results. The knowledge that the use of probiotics may replace antibiotic therapies with less aggressive methods has resulted in a new vision in the pharmaceutical industry.This technology requires the isolation of probiotics from specific ecosystems such as a herd or particular geographic region, the selection and characterization of the bacteria responsible for probiotic action, the production of probiotic on an industrial scale, and its reintroduction into the animals through its diet. In many cases, the use of non-selected probiotics has generated low or no beneficial effect on growth performance (Fuller 1989). That situation may be a consequence of using probiotics which were isolated from other regions or even from other animal species.Raising calves can be done intensively with minimal maternal contact or extensively in the presence of their mother during lactation, depending on the type of cattle production. Rearing calves for meat production is performed, at least in countries like Argentina, extensively. In this system, the calf remains with its mother from birth to weaning season (approximately 6 months after birth).On the other hand, the most important concern in the dairy farms is to producemore quantities of milk and with good quality. So, among other measures, the artificial breeding of calves is essential. This system has as main purpose accelerated the transformation process from monogastric to polygastric digestive system and thus leveraged the cheaper feed.In the healthy animal, each portion of the intestine is colonized by a typicalmicrobiota, which adapts and develops into a beneficial symbiosis with the host(Kurzak et al. 1998). The animals? digestive tract raised in natural production systems (extensive production systems) is colonized spontaneously and naturally. The colonizer microbiota comes from the environment that surrounds it, being essential in the contact with the mother during the first days of life, since this would supply the microbiota. When the animals are reared in intensive production systems, the probability to acquiring the natural microbiota is greatly reduced, and the intestine is more vulnerable to be colonized by pathogens. The effects of microbiota and their metabolic activities require special attention in the context of animal production in which the efficiency of animal growth is the primary goal (Collier et al. 2003). The probiotic supplementation is a useful alternative to improve the intestinal colonizationby beneficial microorganisms during the first days of life.