Occurrence of bifidobacteria in faeces of calves fed milk or a combined diet
Language English Country England, Great Britain Media print
Document type Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- MeSH
- Bifidobacterium growth & development MeSH
- Feces microbiology MeSH
- Fermentation MeSH
- Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena physiology MeSH
- In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence veterinary MeSH
- Animal Feed * MeSH
- Milk metabolism microbiology MeSH
- Animals, Newborn MeSH
- Colony Count, Microbial veterinary MeSH
- Cattle metabolism microbiology MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Male MeSH
- Cattle metabolism microbiology MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
The development of faecal bacteria composition in calves fed milk or a combined diet was investigated from 4 to 21 days of age. On day 7, bifidobacteria in faeces of milk-fed calves already increased from about 7.6 to 9.2 log CFU/g and did not change until the end of the study, whereas in calves fed the combined diet bifidobacteria only moderately increased to 7.9 log CFU/g and decreased slowly until day 21. The counts of bifidobacteria in calves on a combined diet were significantly (p < 0.01) lower compared to those in milk-fed calves. Bifidobacterial counts determined by cultivation or by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) did not differ significantly. Our results showed that the occurrence of bifidobacteria in calf faeces is highly dependent on the diet composition. Faecal bacteria flora of calves fed exclusively by milk is rich in bifidobacteria, but in calves on a combined diet coliforms dominated.
References provided by Crossref.org
Survival of bifidobacteria administered to calves
