title: Growth performance, nutrients digestibility, and blood metabolites of lambs fed diets supplemented with probiotics during pre- and post-weaning period.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects on growth performance, digestibility, and blood metabolites of lambs during pre- and post-weaning period of inclusion of a commercial probiotic (PRO) containing a mixture of two strains ofPediococcus,Pediococcus acidilactici(1×106colony-forming unit [cfu]/g) andPediococcus pentosaceus(1.3×106cfu/g), with dextrose as the carrier compound compared to a diet based on concentrate mixture and wheat straw.
  
  
  METHODS
  In exp. 1, 24 male lambs of about 15±2.6 d age and initial body weight (BW) of 5.52±0.6 kg were randomly allocated into three groups. One group received control diet without additives, and remainders received control diet supplemented with 0.5 or 1 g PRO/lamb/d. Daily feed intake and biweekly BW were recorded. In exp. 2, five lambs, (initial BW = 29.72±1.15 kg, age = 6.54±0.32 mo) were used as experimental animals in a digestion trial. They were fed the same diets as in Exp. 1.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The supplementation of PRO did not result in any significant differences in milk intake, average daily gain (ADG), or total gain between treatments during the pre-weaning period. Total dry matter intake tended to be greater (p = 0.07) with addition of PRO in the post-weaning diets. During post-weaning phase, the final BW, ADG, total gain, and feed conversion ratio of the lambs receiving PRO treatments tended to be greater (p≤0.10) than the control group. Addition of PRO in post-weaning diet decreased (p≤0.01) blood urea and cholesterol concentrations. With the exception of ether extract digestibility, all nutrients digestibility were improved with inclusion PRO in the post-weaning diets.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lambs that received PRO in post-weaning diet appeared to show a better performance than lambs in pre-weaning period. Addition of the probiotic in the post-weaning diet trended towards improved dry matter intake, growth performance, feed conversion ratio, and nutrients digestibility.
authors.affiliation: Animal and Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Saleem
authors.affiliation: Animal and Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, Minia, Egypt.
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Zanouny
authors.affiliation: Animal and Poultry Production and Fish Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Aswan University, Aswan, Egypt.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Singer
keywords: Digestibility; Growth Performance; Lamb; Probiotic