Comparative study of the use of probiotics and monensin in the prevention of acute rumen lactic acidosis in sheep

Abstract

This project aims at comparing the efficacy of probiotic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and ionophore (monensin sodium) in preventing acute rumen lactic acidosis in sheep by ruminal and systemic signs. 30 crossbred Santa Inês sheep will be used, fitted with rumen cannula, weighing about 30 kg of live weight and 12 months old. The animals will be kept in stalls and fed with basal diet calculated at 2.7% of live weight and comprised by 75% of dry hay coast-cross and 25% commercial concentrate diet containing 14% gross protein. All animals will undergo a period of 30 days to adapt to new conditions of management and feeding, as well as surgical implantation of a cannula in the rumen. After the adjustment period, the 30 sheep are randomly assigned to three groups of 10 animals: Control; Probiotic and Monensin. The control group will receive only the basal diet. The probiotic group has the basal diet supplemented with 1 g / 100 kg liveweight of probiotic Beef-Sacc ®, containing 5 x 106 CFU of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The Monensin group will receive the basal diet, the dose of 33 ppm of monensin, as recommended by Borges (2006). After 30 days of onset of diet of the probiotic and the ionophore, there will be experimental induction of rumen acidosis in all animals, by administering sucrose directly into the rumen, according to the protocol described by Maruta and Ortolani (2002). The animals that come to clinical manifestations of acute rumen lactic acidosis, and systemic acidosis, will implement the treatments recommended by the literature in order to prevent the frame from the same aggravation and losses may occur. (AU)