Table 1.

Effects of probiotics and prebiotics on the immune function, health, and performance of calves, dairy cows, and feedlot steers

Animal	Strain/Type	Dose	Duration/Frequency	Health/Production Status	Outcome	Reference
Calf	Probiotic	109 CFU/d multistrain	8 wk	High risk	Decreased scours and therapy	Timmerman et al,4 2005
Calf	Probiotic	109 CFU/d LAB 6 strains	8 wk	High risk	Decreased scours and therapy	Timmerman et al,4 2005
Calf	Probiotic	108 CFU/d LAB, Enterococcus faecium, B bifidum, S thermophilus	90 d	Low risk	Decreased scours	Mokhber-Dezfouli et al,5 2007
Calf	Probiotic	107 CFU/d Lactobacillus acidophilus and L plantarum	15 wk	Low risk	Increased white blood cell counts, increased IgG concentration	Al-Saiady,6 2010
Calf	Probiotic	Meta-analysis on LAB	Range 14−187 d	Low risk	Decreased scours	Signorini et al,7 2012
Calf	Probiotic	2.0 × 109 CFU/d L acidophilus and Enterococcus faecium	21 d	Moderate Salmonella enteria challenge	Reduced systemic inflammation, decreased mucosal damage, increased villi height:crypt depth in the duodenum and ileum	Liang et al,8
Calf	Probiotic	1010 CFU challenge EHEC E coli then 1010 CFU probiotic E coli	35 d	8–10-wk-old calves	Decreased E. coli O157:H7 GIT growth and fecal shedding	Tkalcic et al,9 2003
Calf	Probiotic + yeast	109 CFU/d L acidophilus, E faecium, Saccharomyces cerevisiae	56 d	High risk	Decreased neutrophil oxidative burst, increased lymphocyte counts, decreased haptoglobin, decreased scours	Davis,10 2018
Calf	Probiotic + yeast	108 CFU/d LAB, 106 CFU/d S cerevisiae, 108 CFU/d LAB	24 wk	Low risk	Decreased scours	Agarwal et al,11 2002
Calf	Yeast	109 CFU/d S cerevisiae	2×/d for 84 d	High risk	Decreased scours	Galvao et al,12 2005
Calf	BG	5 mL/d 50% BG extract	56 d	High risk	Increased neutrophil counts, decreased neutrophil functionality, decreased haptoglobin	Davis,10 2018
Calf	BG	113 g/d of a 1.8% BG + vitamin C	28 d	Transport stress	Increased neutrophil counts at d 28	Eicher et al,13 2010
Calf	BG	150 g/d of a 70% BG + vitamin C	28 d	Transport stress	Decreased white blood cells and neutrophil phagocytosis	Eicher et al,13 2010
Calf	MOS + Bs	3 g/hd/d MOS + 109 CFU Bacillus subtilis	56 d	High risk	Decreased lymphocyte counts and haptoglobin	Davis,10 2018
Calf	MOS	7 g/hd/d MOS	From 5 to 56 d	Low risk	Reduced antibiotic treatments and cost of scours	Kara et al,14 2015
Calf	MOS	4 g/hd/d MOS	30 d	Low risk	Decreased fecal scores and fecal coliform counts	Ghosh & Mehla,15 2012
Calf	MOS	4 g/hd/d MOS	5 wk	Low risk	Decreased probability of scours	Heinrichs et al,16 2003
Calf	MOS	4 or 6 g/hd/d MOS	56 d	Low risk	No changes	Hill et al,17 2008
Calf	FOS	4 or 8 g/hd/d FOS	56 d	Low risk	No changes	Hill et al,17 2008
Calf	FOS	3 or 6 g/hd/d FOS	168 d	Low risk	Increased carcass weight	Grand et al,18 2013
Calf	GOS	3.4% GOS DM in milk replacer	84 d	Low risk	Increased days with high fecal scores, increased epithelium growth in the SI, increased LAB and Bifidobacterium abundance in the SI	Castro et al,19 2016
Dairy cow	Probiotic	50 g/d Lactobacillus casei and L plantarum of 1.3 × 109 CFU/g	30 d	Lactating	Decreased SCC, no change in milk components but increased overall milk production at 15 and 30 d of the study (75 and 90 DIM)	Xu et al,20 2017
Dairy cow	Probiotic	10, 15, or 20 g/d Saccharomyces cerevisiae and LAB, no CFU listed	60 d	Early to mid lactation	Increased milk yield, FCM, solids, and profit	Shreedhar et al,21 2016
Dairy cow	Probiotic	10 g/hd/d probiotics, no CFU listed	21 d	Early lactation	Increased total milk yield and fat	Musa et al,22 2017
Dairy cow	Probiotic + yeast	10, 15, or 20 g/hd/d Lactobacillus, S cerevisiae, Propionibacterium, no CFU listed	6 wk	Lactating	Increased milk production with 20 g/d (most cost-effective), tendency to increase milk fat and protein	Vibhute et al,23 2011
Dairy cow	Yeast	9 mL/hd/d commercial yeast product in the water, no CFU listed	10 wk	30 DIM	Increased rumen pH, decreased BHBA, increased milk production, decreased milk protein yield	Rossow et al,24 2014
Dairy cow	Yeast	3 g/hd/d of 6.0 × 109 CFU live yeast	5 periods of 45 d	Lactating	Increased nutrient utilization in the rumen, increased milk yield, protein, and fat	Rossow et al,25 2018
Dairy cow	Yeast	2.5 g/d of 2.5 × 1010 CFU S cerevisiae	105 d	Lactating	Increased milk production	Maamouri et al,26 2014
Dairy cow	Yeast	40 g/d of 5.0 × 1011 CFU S cerevisiae	90 d	3rd lactation, early in lactation	Increased milk yield and fat, decreased SCC	Dailidaviciene et al,27 2018
Dairy cow	Synbiotic	1.0 × 107 CFU/kg diet L casei + 10 g/hd/d Dextran	1 y	Lactating	Decreased SCC, decreased mastitis, decreased adverse impacts of heat stress, increased milk production and components	Yasuda et al,28 2007
Dairy cow	Synbiotic	10 g/d of 5.0 × 109 CFU/g Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a mix of 107 CFU L casei, Streptococcus faecium, L acidophilus	75 d	Lactating	Increased milk fat, decreased SCC	Sretenovic et al,29 2008
Feedlot steer	Probiotic	109 CFU/d LAB	2 y	Feedlot	Decreased fecal shedding of E coli O157:H7	Peterson et al,30 2007
Feedlot steer	Probiotic	108 CFU/d E coli	90 d	Feedlot	Decreased fecal shedding of E coli O157:H7	Schamberger et al,31 2004
Feedlot steer	Probiotic	109 LAB+ 109Propionibacterium freudenreichii	9 mo	Feedlot	Decreased fecal shedding of E coli and Salmonella	Tabe et al,32 2008
Feedlot steer	Probiotic	109 CFU/d LAB	141 d	Feedlot	Decreased fecal shedding of E coli, decreased shedding by 80% at slaughter, only 3.4% of hides positive at harvest	Younts-Dahl et al,33 2005
Feedlot steer	Probiotic	108 CFU/d, 107 CFU/d LAB	141 d	Feedlot	Decreased fecal shedding of E coli	Younts-Dahl et al,33 2005
Feedlot steer	Probiotic	109 CFU/d LAB NPC 747	45–108 d	Feedlot	Decreased fecal prevalence of E coli, 1.6% prevalence on hides	Brashears et al,34 2003
Feedlot steer	Probiotic	109 CFU/d LAB NPC 750	45–108 d	Feedlot	Decreased fecal prevalence of E coli, 0% prevalence on hides	Brashears et al,34 2003
Feedlot steer	MOS	0.2% MOS in diet, DM	24 d	Feedlot	Decreased haptoglobin and endotoxin translocation from the GIT to circulation	Jin et al,35 2014

Concentrations of prebiotics are not standardized, so comparisons among studies are not recommended. Some prebiotics included a carrier that may or may not influence the outcome.

Abbreviations: BG, β-glucan; CFU, colony-forming units; EHEC, enterohemorrhagic E coli; FCM, fat corrected milk; FOS, fructooligosaccharide; GOS, galactooligosaccharide; LAB, lactic acid-producing bacteria; MOS, mannanoligosaccharide; SI, small intestine