Utilization of sugarcane industrial residues as animal food and probiotic medium.

Sugar production from sugarcane generates residual products, currently, many of which are waste products. At the same time, introduction of probiotic bacteria to food animals needs an economical production medium. Fermentation of sugarcane blunting, an industrial residue, inoculated with ruminant probiotic bacteria was investigated. Fermentation was carried out using native flora (NF) alone, NF plus a goat probiotic lactic acid bacterium (LAB), and NF plus goat probiotic co-inoculated with two LAB isolated from sugarcane. Survival of microorganisms and metabolite produce were monitored. In the inoculated samples, pH was lower, dry matter was >30%, and Enterobacteriaceae and fungus decreased when compared to natural fermentation. The LAB inoculated grew and multiplied during fermentation. All beneficial changes were more quickly in the co-inoculated samples. The results presented indicate that sugarcane blunting can be used as a medium for introduction of ruminant probiotic bacteria. Fermentation of blunting can prolong shelf life and increase microbiological safety.

Interaction between lactic acid bacteria and gastrointestinal nematodes of caprine origin.

To compare the level of parasitism with gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep and goats, several studies have been conducted. They have generally shown that goats were more infected than sheep, as they exhibited higher worm burdens and egg excretion. This difference between two host species has been attributed not only to a difference in feeding behavior, but also to a lesser ability of goats to develop resistance to trichostrongylate infection (In kids and lambs the greatest damage is observed from weaning until 1 yr of age; mature mothers, before and after parturition and during suckling, are affected). In the last few decades, the most common tool (and frequently the only one) used for controlling internal parasites in livestock was the anthelmintic drugs. The application of anthelmintic treatments; must be accompanied by epidemic data and determinations supporting the appropriate timing and frequency of animal treatment. This view has not always been respected. In our country, because of a decrease in price, the anthelmintic drugs were used indiscriminately, causing the resistance we see today. This serious problem, added to the objective of producing organic foods without drug residuals, calls for better use of the antiparasitic drugs and for the developmentment of alternative methods that are ecologically viable and without risks for human health.Little information is available on the interactions between bacteria and intestinal nematodes of caprine origin. Some reports note ovicidal activity of different strains of Bacillus thuringiensis on the eggs of zooparasitic nematodes. Recent work found inhibitory actions of lactic bacteria on gastrointestinal nematodes (both of caprine origin). In the present chapter we describe the methods used for the determination of interactions between lactic acid bacteria and nematodes.

Preliminary assays for the development of a probiotic for goats.

In order to determine probiotic properties, 137 strains of lactic acid bacteria from the feces of Creole goats were screened, only six were resistant to pH 2.0 and bile salts (0.3%). Three strains identified as Lactobacillus and two as Enterococcus showed agglutination with the treated yeast. Between them, Lactobacillus DDL17, DDL19, DDL48 and Enterococcus DDE39 demonstrated high specificity in this test because the correspondent agglutination was inhibited by one sugar, suggesting the presence of a lectin-like structure in their cell walls, which could be due to adhesion ability. Another Enterococcus strain (DDE55) showed low affinity because five sugars inhibited the agglutination of the treated yeasts. The results of hydrophobic properties showed that the strains who were able to agglutinate yeasts presented similar hydrophobic characteristics as hexadecane, xylene and toluene, but high specificity was not related to a high hydrophobicity. Only two strains (Lactobacillus DDL19 and DDL48) showed aggregation with the lowest concentration of ammonium sulfate, complementing the hydrophobicity assay. Only one strain, Lactobacillus DDL48, showed an inhibition against an enteric indicator strain (Salmonella Typhimurium and Escherichia coli O111). This inhibitory action was not affected by the addition of catalase and no inhibition was detected after neutralizing the supernatant culture fluid. These strains could be pre-selected in order to complete studies focused on designing a probiotic for use in goat feed.

Copper deficiency in Creole goat kids.

Serum copper determination is important to confirm hypocupremia. Twenty healthy kids constituted the Control Group, and sixteen kids with symptoms of copper deficiency, the Problem Group. Animals from the Problem Group showed a low number of red blood cells (RBC) and variations in RBC size and shape. The values found for hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) in the Control Group were 10.42 +/- 1.34 g.dL(-1) and 33.07 +/- 1.11 g.dL(-1) respectively, while the levels of the Problem Group were 7.95 +/- 1.21 g.dL(-1) and 29.45 +/- 0.78 g.dL(-1), respectively. The kids from the Problem Group presented an important increase in monocytes, neutrophiles and leukocytes; precursor cells of the neutrophile were also observed. The anemia of these animals was hypochromic and macrocytic. Our results indicate that Creole kids with serum copper levels > 450 microg.L(-1) improved after treatment with copper glycinate. The six goats with cupremia < 450 microg.mL(-1) were unable to improve their deficiency and died.