Table 9.

Examples of trials regarding the effect of synbiotics on animal health

Reference	Subjects	Composition of synbiotic	Time	Main outcome
Absorption and utilisation of feed, diarrhoea, body weight gain
[140]	320 Turkeys infected with Salmonella	Lactobacillus spp., lactose	14 days (trial 1–3), 18 days (trial 4)	The effect of a synbiotic on improved feed conversion and increased body weight of experimental animals
[141]	720 Broiler chickens	B. subtilis, FOS	6 weeks	Improved average daily growth, FCR, reduced incidence of diarrhoea and mortality, compared to animals treated with aureomycin
[142]	600 Broiler chickens	E. faecium, FOS	5 weeks	A significant increase of the average daily body weight gain, carcase ratio and FCR compared to the control
Intestinal ecosystem imbalance, pathogenic infections
[146]	33 Conventional healthy sucking piglets	L. plantarum, maltodextrin and/or FOS	7 days	Reduced counts of E. coli O8:K88 in the jejunum and colon of piglets, and it was associated with increased acetate concentrations in the ileum and colon
[138]	150 Pigs during weaning	A probiotic of anaerobic microflora (bacteria/yeast/moulds), MOS, sodium acetate, ammonia citrate	16 days	Improved digestion of nutrients, reduced emission of harmful gases and prevention of bacterial infections during the weaning period
Improved quality of meat, milk, eggs
[147]	58 Holsten dairy cows	L. casei, dextran	1 year	Significant increase in Holstein cow milk production; including total milk, fat, protein and solids-non-fat production

FCR feed conversion ratio, FOS fructo-oligosaccharides, MOS mannano-oligosaccharides