Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2019-2020).

There are one million dairy cows in Canada on over 12,000 farms which contributes $8 B to our domesticx000D
economy. Generally, the neonatal and pre-weaned periods are the most challenging in dairy production,x000D
resulting in the highest mortality and morbidity rates and diarrhea is the most common cause of calf healthx000D
problems. In order to treat and control this diarrhea producers often rely on antibiotic therapy. The increasedx000D
public concern about antibiotic resistance has driven animal scientists to investigate alternative nutritionalx000D
technologies in recent years. An alternative approach to improve calf health and welfare is to providex000D
non-antimicrobial feed additives such as probiotics that minimize pathogenic bacteria colonization of thex000D
gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Probiotics are living microorganisms that have been shown to produce no drugx000D
residues when directly fed to animals. One specific yeast probiotic, Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii (SB),x000D
has been shown to improve GIT health and intestinal microbial balance in humans and pigs but has not beenx000D
thoroughly studied in calves. The proposed project will employ characterizing the health and gastrointestinalx000D
function of dairy calves in the veal production system and to see if the addition of SB can impact on health,x000D
gastrointestinal function, structure and microbiota. Moreover, the second aim of the proposed project will be tox000D
explore the colonization and viability of SB in the different regions of digestive tract of veal calves as well asx000D
evaluating the effects of SB. The project is expected to have a significant impact on animal health andx000D
production efficiency in dairy replacement and veal industry while reducing the overuse of antibiotics.