Effects of single or combined supplementation of probiotics and prebiotics on ruminal fermentation, ruminal bacteria and total tract digestion in lambs

Abstract Probiotics (beneficial living microorganisms) and prebiotics (fiber, cell wall material, mannan polysaccharides derived through hydrolysis of yeast cell walls) are feed additives that may have beneficial extra-nutritional pharmaceutical and/or metabolic effects on livestock health and growth performance. Due to differences in modes of action, their combination may have additive effects on digestion and fermentation in ruminants. For this reason, four male lambs (Dorper; 45.1 ± 2.7 kg initial weight) with “T” cannulas in the rumen were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square experiment to evaluate the effects of single or combined supplementation of probiotics and prebiotics on ruminal fermentation and total tract digestion. Dietary treatments consisted of a cracked corn-based basal finishing diet supplemented with: 1) no eubiotics (Control); 2) 3 g of live saccharomyces cerevisiae /lamb/day (2 × 1010 cfu/g, SC), 3) 3 g of mannan oligosaccharide (30 % w/w) plus b-glucans (20 % w/w) /lamb/day (MOS), and 4) combination of 1.5 g/day SC and 1.5 g/day MOS (SCMOS). Compared to controls, SC supplementation tended (P = 0.09) to increase total tract digestion of DM and OM, and increased (P