Role of Probiotics on Overall Animal Health

Whenever we hear the word bacteria, we think about the germs that can cause serious illness. Bacteria can make you sick, but all of us, including animals, have bacterial flora lining in our intestinal tracts. These bacteria can prove to be beneficial to health, and you can fall sick when the balance of bacteria in the tract is altered.

There are many numbers of conditions and even situations where the imbalance of gut bacteria can cause huge problems like trauma or injury, toxins, chronic disease, and stress. Our digestion of food and absorption of nutrients is done by the bacteria found in the intestinal tract, so a minor imbalance can also lead to serious illness.

Lactobacillus thermophilus or acidophilus, Enterococcusfaecium, and Bifidobacterium bifidum are the major ingredients used to make probiotics and restore the balance in the gut. These healthy bacteria can prevent unhealthy bacteria from causing severe illness. Healthy bacteria also produce vitamin B that is important for humans and animals.

The amount of healthy bacteria in the intestine also decreases as animals age along with poor diet, stress, or even use of certain medications. Supplementing the gut of animals that are old, injured, ill, stressed, or not eating well, probiotics can help to strengthen their intestinal health and ward off diseases.
Probiotics are also available at any health food store or come in capsules, liquids, and live-culture yogurt. Animal Health Products can give an additional nutritional bump to your animal’s health. An active blend of herbs, enzymes, vitamins, probiotics, and nutrients can support proper digestion and bowel health and can maintain healthy gut flora and pH to support normal digestive function.

Efficiency of probiotic in farm animals

Probiotics have many varied benefits. Some of the most potential benefits that can arise from applications of probiotic on farm animals include:

• Resistance to infectious diseases
• Better absorption of nutrients
• Increase in growth rate
• Improved digestion
• Improved feed conversion
• Provision of essential nutrients
• Improved milk quality
• Improved milk yield
• Increased egg production
• Improved egg quality

Since probiotics are an alternative to antimicrobial growth promoters, their impact on farm animals is of prime interest.

Bacillus clausii is a gram-positive, rod-shaped, motile, and spore-forming bacterium that lives in soil. It is also classified as a probiotic microorganism that can maintain a symbiotic relationship with the host. Bacillus clausii is used as a probiotic treatment to protect the animal gut from infection, chronic diarrhea, small intestine bacterial overgrowth, Helicobacter pylori therapy, and to treat infections. It has also been suggested that Bacillus clausii is effective for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome-related symptoms.