Table 3.

Probiotic lactobacilli and bifidobacteria (or their derivatives) in livestock.

Probiotic bacteria species/dose	Animal/Age	Probiotic effects	Reference
L. acidophilus or a mixture of 12 Lactobacillus strains (2 strains of L. acidophilus, 3 strains of L. fermentum, 1 strain of L. crispatus, and 6 strains of L. brevis)	Arbor Acres broiler chicks/1-day-old	Significantly increased the levels of amylase in the small intestine, but significantly reduced the intestinal and fecal beta-glucuronidase and fecal beta-glucosidase.	(Jin et al., 2000)
Lactobacillus salivarius strain, CTC2197	Leghorn chickens/1-day-old	Prevented Salmonella enteritidis C-114 colonization in chickens	(Pascual et al., 1999)
L. acidophilus and S. faecium, given with Salmonella Enteritidis, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Salmonella Heidelberg-Specific antibodies	Broiler chicks/3-day-old	Reduced Salmonella enteritidis intestinal colonization	(Tellez et al., 2001)
Lactobacillus fermentation product	Cross-bred piglets/4-5-week-old	Stimulated growth, increased feed intake and slightly increased serum concentration of IgG.	(Lessard, 1987)
B. lactis HN019	Cross-bred piglets/4-5-week-old	Reduced the severity of RV and E. coli associated weanling diarrhea, improved feed conversion index and immune responses	(Shu et al., 2001)
Direct fed microbials	Cross-bred piglets/4-5-week-old	No effect on growth performance and gut health	(Walsh, 2007)
Bifidobacterium pseudolongum or Lactobacillus acidophilus	Newborn calves and piglets	Improved body weight gain, feed conversion, reduced mortality, and decreased frequency of diarrhea	(Abe et al., 1995)
L. reuteri BSA131	Landrace piglets/1-month-old	Enhanced weight gain and feed conversion; modulated intestinal microbiota (increased lactobacilli and decreased enterobacteria fecal counts)	(Chang et al., 2001)
Reuteran from L. reuteri TMW1.656 and levan from L. reuteri LTH5794	Crossbred gilts/4-week-old	Decreased levels of adherent ETEC K88 resulting in less outflow liquid in intestinal loops	(Chen et al., 2014)
Lactobacillus gasseri, L. reuteri, L. acidophilus and L. fermentum	Crossbred pigs (Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire)/4- week-old	Significantly improved average daily feed intake, feed conversion, average daily weight gain and improved microbial balance	(Huang, 2004)
Lactobacillus fermentum I5007	Piglets/4-day-old	Affected microbial composition (decreased numbers of Clostridium spp.), promoted intestinal development (increased villous height), and modulated immune function (reduced IL-1β in ileum of non-challenged piglets)	(Liu et al., 2014)
Lactobacillus fermentum I5007	Barrows/28-day-old	Increased CD4+ T cell frequencies, TNF-α and IFN-γ levels in ileum of E. coli K88ac challenged pigs; increased the anti- oxidative responses (increased catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase levels, inhibited superoxide anion production in liver and muscle; decreased levels of malondialdehyde)	(Wang et al., 2009a; Wang et al., 2013)
Bacillus subtilis M-1 and Lactobacillus reuteri X-1	Piglets/21-day-old	Increased feed intake. average daily weight gain, but decreased immune function (serum IgG and IgM, TNF-α, IL-6 and NO levels)	(Wang, 2011)
L. fermentum I5007	Piglets/28-day-old	Alleviated weaning stress syndrome by enhancing the levels of proteins involved in energy metabolism, lipid metabolism, cell structure and mobility, protein synthesis, and immune response, thereby facilitating cellular proliferation and depressing apoptosis.	(Wang et al., 2012)
Lactobacillus fermentum	Large White×Landrace barrows/28-day-old	Improved average weight gain, feed conversion and anti-OVA serum IgG levels	(Yu, 2008)