ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1670912
This article is part of the Research TopicThreats and Strategies of Nutritional Metabolic Disorders and Poisoning Diseases in RuminantsView all 16 articles
Yeast Culture Improves Growth, Antioxidant Status, Immunity, and Gut Microbiota Homeostasis in Preweaning Holstein Calves
Provisionally accepted
- Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
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Calves in the lactation period exhibit limited disease resistance and stress tolerance, making them particularly vulnerable to health challenges such as diarrhoea. Yeast culture (YC) supplementation has emerged as a promising strategy to enhance health and growth in young ruminants. This study aimed to investigate the effects of YC supplementation on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, immune function, and intestinal microbiota composition in lactating Holstein calves. A total of 40 lactating Holstein calves were randomly assigned to either a control group or a YC-supplemented group, with the feeding trial lasting 60 days. Growth performance parameters were recorded, serum antioxidant and immune markers were evaluated, and gut microbial diversity and composition were analysed using metagenomic sequencing. Furthermore, correlations between microbial taxa and serum markers were assessed. The results showed that YC supplementation significantly increased average daily gain (ADG) and feed intake, and reduced the incidence of diarrhoea (P < 0.05). Serum levels of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were significantly elevated, while malondialdehyde (MDA) content was significantly decreased (P < 0.05), indicating improved antioxidant status. Immunoglobulin and cytokine levels were also significantly higher in the YC group (P < 0.05). Metagenomic analysis revealed a significant increase in the Chao index and a trend toward higher Shannon diversity in the YC group. YC supplementation notably increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Phocaeicola plebeius, Ruminococcus sp., Segatella copri, and Candidatus Scatovivens faecipullorum, while reducing potentially pathogenic bacteria like Candidatus Cryptobacteroides sp. and Dorea sp. Correlation analysis showed that T-AOC was positively associated with P. plebeius and S. copri, while MDA was positively correlated with Candidatus Cryptobacteroides sp. and negatively correlated with Ruminococcus sp. and other beneficial taxa. Similarly, several immune markers exhibited positive correlations with beneficial bacteria and negative correlations with harmful bacteria. In conclusion, YC supplementation improved growth performance, enhanced antioxidant and immune functions, and favourably modulated gut microbiota in lactating Holstein calves. These changes collectively contributed to reduced diarrhoea incidence and improved overall health, highlighting yeast culture as a valuable nutritional strategy for calf health management.
Keywords: Yeast culture, Diarrhea rate, growth performance, antioxidant capacity, Immunefunction, intestinal microbiota structure
Received: 22 Jul 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Yang, Liu, Liang, Chen and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dacheng Liu, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
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