Table 1.

Probiotic Treatment in ruminants

Probiotic	Host	Component affected by probiotic administration			Main Conclusions	Reference
		Fecal consistency	Feed efficiency	Body weight (BW) gain
Lactobacillus acidophilus	buffalo calves	+	+	+	Improved feed efficiency, final BW gain, dry matter intake, and average daily gain	(Sharma et al., 2018)
Mixture of Lactobacillus species	dairy calves	+	n/a	+	The overall health index, including fecal consistency, was greater in treated calves. Calf morbidity and mortality tended to be lower in treated animals.	(Maldonado et al., 2017)
Lactobacillus plantarum	dairy calves	ND	n/a	-	High doses of the probioticdecreased BW gain and abundance of other fecal lactobacilli.	(Rodriguez-Palacios et al., 2017)
Pediococcus acidilactici and Pediococcus pentosaceus	lambs	n/a	ND	ND	No differences in pre- or postweaning average daily gains, milk intakes, or feed conversion ratios between treatments.	(Saleem et al., 2017)
Mixture of Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Saccharomyc es cerevisiae	dairy calves	ND	ND	ND	No difference in BW gain, dry matter intake or feed efficiency of calves during pre- or post-weaning periods. Fecal scores tended to be improved in treated animals.	(M. I. Marcondes, 2016)
Kefir (Acetobacter, Lactobacillus spp., Lactococcus spp., and yeasts)	dairy calves	+	ND	ND	Dry matter intake, BW gain, and gain to feed ratios did not differ between treatments. Fecal scores were improved and days with diarrhea during the first 2 weeks of life were reduced in kefir-fed calves.	(Fouladgar et al., 2016)
Bacillus, Paenibacillus, and Staphylococc us isolates from moose	lambs	n/a	+	ND	BW gain and wool quality did not differ between treatments. Feed intake was decreased in animals provided the probiotic mixture.	(Ishaq et al., 2015)
Megasphaera elsdenii	dairy calves	n/a	n/a	ND	Greater dry matter intake, ruminal papillae width, density and butyrate, and no difference in average daily gain	(Muya et al., 2015)
Faecalibacte rium prausnitzi	dairy calves	ND	n/a	+	Decreased mortality rate associated with severe diarrhea	(Foditsch et al., 2015)

^*ND: not determined