Impact of feeding yeast culture or yeast culture and propionibacteria 169 on the productive performance of lactating buffaloes

Abstract

This study was conducted to study the effect of yeast culture (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) supplementation either alone or in combination with Propionibacterium freudenreichii strain P169 on nutrient digestibility coefficients, blood metabolites, milk yield and milk composition of mild lactating buffaloes. Fifteen lactating buffaloes, 2 months after parturition, were randomly assignedinto three groups, 5 animals each, using complete random design. The experiment lasted for two months, buffaloes were fed dry matter according to 3% of their mean body weight. The experimental groups were fed on: (1) Control ration (consisted of 50% concentrate feed mixture (CFM), 30% corn silage, 10% dried sugar beet pulp and 10% rice straw), (2) Control ration+50 g Yeast Culture (YC)/head/day and (3) Control ration+50 g YC+4 g propionibacteria, P169, (YC+P169)/head/day. The supplementation of YC or YC+P169 improved (p<0.05) all nutrients digestibility but significantly decreased (p<0.05) blood plasma urea nitrogen of treated buf aloes. Milk and 4% fat corrected milk yields were significantly increased (p<0.05) while milk fatty acids were unaffected by YC or YC+P169 supplementation.' In conclusion, ration’s supplementation with YC or YC+P169 had beneficial effects on the buffaloes productivity with no deleterious effects on animals health.