EFFICIENCY OF PROBIOTICS AND PREBIOTICS IN FARM ANIMALS
Etleva Delia (Veizaj)
Abstract
The determination of probiotic term was notified by Fuller (1989): viable micro-organisms that should lead to beneficial effects for the host animal due to an improvement of the intestinal microbial balance, or the properties of the indigenous micro-flora (Havernaar et al, 1992). Probiotics have been defined by Collins and Gibson (1999) as "a live microbial feed supplement which beneficially affects the host animal by improving its intestinal balance". This description on the mode of action of probiotics shows that there still is no consistent data to precisely explain probiotics effects. Our knowledge about the mode of action of probiotics is very limited (Simon et al 2003). Prebiotics are defined as "a nondigestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon" (Gibson and Roberfroid, 1995). Combination of prebiotics and probiotics are known as synbiotics. Oligosaccharides are commonly fed to weanling pigs in Japan and are increasingly being used in Europe (Ficklinger, 2000; Monsan and Paul, 1995; Piva, 1998), however their use is just beginning to increase in the US. These alternatives to growth promoting antibiotics act by enhancing the three primary defense systems against pathogens: the intestinal microbiota, epithelial cell renewal, function and immune function (Patterson and Burkholder, 2003).
