Finding innovations to improve calf gastrointestinal health

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There are one million dairy cows in Canada on over 12,000 farms which contributes $8 B to our domestic**economy. Generally, the neonatal and pre-weaned periods are the most challenging in dairy production,**resulting in the highest mortality and morbidity rates and diarrhea is the most common cause of calf health**problems. In order to treat and control this diarrhea producers often rely on antibiotic therapy. The increased**public concern about antibiotic resistance has driven animal scientists to investigate alternative nutritional**technologies in recent years. An alternative approach to improve calf health and welfare is to provide**non-antimicrobial feed additives such as probiotics that minimize pathogenic bacteria colonization of the**gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Probiotics are living microorganisms that have been shown to produce no drug**residues when directly fed to animals. One specific yeast probiotic, Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii (SB),**has been shown to improve GIT health and intestinal microbial balance in humans and pigs but has not been**thoroughly studied in calves. The proposed project will employ characterizing the health and gastrointestinal**function of dairy calves in the veal production system and to see if the addition of SB can impact on health,**gastrointestinal function, structure and microbiota. Moreover, the second aim of the proposed project will be to**explore the colonization and viability of SB in the different regions of digestive tract of veal calves as well as**evaluating the effects of SB. The project is expected to have a significant impact on animal health and**production efficiency in dairy replacement and veal industry while reducing the overuse of antibiotics.