Effect of direct-fed microbial on the immunology, blood profile and growth performance of sheep

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SEPTEMBER, 2015
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Increasing public health concern on the effect of the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in the livestock production industry and it residual effect has caused the search for alternative growth promoting feed additive. An alternative feed additive that is gaining major attention is direct-fed microbial (DFM). This study was therefore aimed at assessing the effects of three different types of DFM namely RE3TM, RE3TM Plus (fermented products of RE3TM) and Paenibacillus polymyxa-based DFM (PP) on the haematology, immunology, biochemical and pathogenic microbial counts as well as growth performance of sheep. A feeding trial which lasted for four months was conducted at the Ejura Sheep Breeding Station. Twenty four Ewes with their lambs of 2.5 ± 2kg average body weight were kept in individual pens and were randomly allotted four dietary treatments in a completely randomized block design with each treatment having six replicates. The dietary treatments which were T1 as the control, T2 – RE3TM, T3 - RE3TM Plus (fermented products of RE3TM) and T4 - Paenibacillus polymyxa-based DFM were administered in two forms, diluted form( 1.5 mL of DFM dissolved in 10 mL of water) and undiluted form (1.5 mL/ kg of feed). The diluted DFM (1.5 mL/day) was orally given to the lambs for a month during the suckling phase and the undiluted form of the DFM was mixed (1.5 mL/kg of feed) with the basal diet at feeding time during the creep and grower phase. Crude protein percentages in the diets were 16.1% and 18.6% for the pre-weaning and post-weaning phase respectively. The DFM supplementation did not significantly (P>0.05) affect feed intake and the growth performance among the lambs during the entire study. Haematological and biochemical parameters measured were not significantly affected by the DFM treatment. The immunological parameters measured responded to the DFM treatment offered, with lambs on treatments 3 and 4 recording the highest (P=0.0122) IgA levels than the control. The CD4 levels differed significantly among the treatments. The bacteria count values for treatment 1, 2 and 4 differed significantly from treatment 3 which recorded the highest (P=0.0536) E. coli levels in faeces. Though DFM treatments generally had no influence on growth performance, haematological and biochemical parameters measured, the treatments resulted in the differences in immunological values obtained, with the DFM containing Paenibacillus polymyxa numerically enhancing growth performances of the lambs.
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A thesis submitted to The Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science (Biotechnology).
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