Host-specific probiotics feeding influence growth, gut microbiota, and fecal biomarkers in buffalo calves

AMB Express

Table 2 Growth performance and structural measurements of Murrah buffalo calves supplemented with probiotic formulation (PF) or not (CON)

Item	Treatment (Trt)¹		SEM	P Value (Trt)
Item	CON	PF	SEM	P Value (Trt)
Initial BW (kg), d0	32.55	32.49	0.43	0.953
Final BW (kg), d30	37.71^a	40.15^b	0.56	0.011
Net gain in BW (kg)	5.16^a	7.66^b	0.62	0.028
²ADG (kg/d), 0–30 d	0.18^a	0.26^b	0.02	0.029
³ADMI (kg/d), 0–30 d	0.46^a	0.51^b	0.01	0.001
⁴Feed efficiency %	37.44	50.30	4.12	0.096
^AStructural growth measurements
Body length (cm)	55.97^a	58.82^b	1.41	< 0.001
Heart girth (cm)	80.68^a	82.23^b	1.23	0.003
Wither height (cm)	72.76^a	74.04^b	0.98	0.001
Hip height (cm)	74.47^a	76.44^b	1.02	< 0.001

BW body weight, ADG average daily gain, ADMI average dry matter intake, Trt treatment, SEM standard error of mean
¹Treatments: ^†Basal diet with no supplementation (CON), supplemented with L. reuteri BF-E7 + L. salivarius BF-17 (PF; 1 g/calf/day)
^abMeans bearing different letters in a row differ significantly (P < 0.05)
^AMean of four periodic collections; P < 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant; ²ADG = (kg of final BW—kg of initial BW)/experimental days
³ADMI = (offered DM—residual DM)/experimental days
⁴Feed efficiency = [Average daily gain (kg/day)/Dry matter intake (kg/day)] × 100%