Growth Performance of Buffalo Calves in Response to Different Diets with and without Saccharomyces cerevisiae Supplementation.

Simple Summary: Buffalo breeding in Italy has significantly increased in the new century because of mozzarella cheese, but also because of a growing interest in meat production. The nutritional factors that significantly affect animal performance are the forage/concentrate ratio, diet energy and protein content, supplementations (i.e., vitamins, minerals, additives), and the feeding system used. Since antibiotics were banned for auxinic purposes (Reg. 1831/2003/EC), the interest in the potential ability of feed additives to enhance nutrient utilization and animal performance by acting on rumen metabolism has increased. Among such additives, yeast cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) have found great interest for application in ruminant nutrition. Therefore, the growth performances of buffalo calves that were fed diets characterized by different forage/concentrate ratio, with or without Saccharomyces cerevisiae supplementation, were evaluated in this study. The aim of the present trial was to evaluate the growth performance of buffalo calves fed on diets characterized by different forage/concentrate ratios, with or without Saccharomyces cerevisiae supplementation (CBS 493.94, Yea-Sacc®). Twenty-four male buffalo calves (mean age of 145.1 ± 16.1 days; mean weight of 108.0 ± 18.7 kg) were assigned randomly to 4 groups, homogeneous in age, that were fed four different diets: diet 1, F:C ratio 50:50; diet 2, F:C ratio 30:70; diet 3, F:C ratio 50:50 + Yea-Sacc®; and diet 4, F:C ratio 30:70 + Yea-Sacc®. Buffalo calves were individually weighted before the start of the experiment and the data were used as a covariate, being taken monthly until the end of the trial. Dry matter intake (DMI), daily weight gain (DWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated. The differences in diets composition significantly (p < 0.01) affected all these parameters. In particular, the animals fed diet 1 and diet 3 showed higher values of DWG (0.91 and 0.88 g/d vs. 0.68 and 0.66 for group 2 and 4) and DMI (5.8 and 5.3 kg/d, respectively) compared to the other groups (4.3 and 4.4 kg/d for group 2 and 4), as well as a higher final body weight (370.5 and 334.1 kg for group 1 and 3 vs. 272.8 and 273.1 kg of group 2 and 4, respectively). Indeed, the supplementation with Yea-Sacc® at the dosage of 1 × 10E8 did not affect buffaloes' growth performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]