Influence of Probiotic, Prebiotic and Synbiotic Additives on Feed intake and Conversion ratio in Jaffarabadi Buffalo Calves during Early and Late Post-natal Phases

A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic supplementation on the feed intake and feed conversion ratio of newborn Jaffarabadi buffalo calves (early post-natal stage: 2^nd to 13^th week and late stage: 14^th to 26^th week of age). Twenty-four 8-day-old calves were chosen and divided into four groups of six at random: probiotic (T1), prebiotic (T2), synbiotic (T3) and control (C). All calves received restricted suckling plus a basal diet and pelleted concentrate as per ICAR (2013) standards. T1 calves were fed probiotics (L. sporogenes and S. cerevisiae, 5 g/day), T2 received prebiotics (mannan-oligosaccharides, 5 g/day) and T3 were given a synbiotic mix (2.5 g each of probiotic and prebiotic per day). Average dry matter intake (DMI) as % of body weight varied slightly among groups, with pooled values of 3.20%, 3.28%, 3.13% and 3.36% for C, T1, T2 and T3, respectively. DMI increased by 2.40% (T1) and 5.08% (T3) and decreased by 2.21% (T2) compared to control, though differences were not significant (p>0.05). Overall feed conversion ratio (FCR) remained unaffected statistically but showed numerically lower values in supplemented groups, particularly in T2 (5.78) compared to control (6.34). Results suggest potential benefits of supplementation on feed efficiency without significant changes in FCR. Overall fecal coliform count was also reduced in the feces of supplemented buffalo calves than control.