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Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

DOI

10.3906/vet-2004-21

Abstract

This study was organised to evaluate the effect of supplementation of dietary probiotics on blood biochemistry in 18 captive Asian elephants of 30-62 years age and 3495 ± 133.34 kg body weight (BW) for two months. To observe the results in different groups, i.e. control with no probiotic (T$_{1}$) and the other two with probiotics which contained 1 × 10$^{9}$ CFU/g concentrate of Lactobacillus acidophilus (T$_{2}$) and 1 × 10$^{9}$ CFU/g concentrate of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (T$_{3}$), they were given 50 kg BW/day (dose range 48-89 g per day/elephant). The elephants were randomly divided into three groups with six elephants each. They were fed on ad libitum green fodder. Blood biochemical constituents namely: (i) blood metabolites like glucose, total protein, albumin, cholesterol, creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen, (ii) serum enzymes like aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase, and (iii) serum minerals like calcium and phosphorus were analysed at the end of research to evaluate the physiological impacts of nutrients in the elephant's body. It didn't establish any health problem to the elephants since the parameters determined in the blood were observed well within the normal physiological range, and no significant differences were noticed due to the effect of treatment. It is concluded that blood biochemistry remained unaffected on the supplementation of probiotics in Asian elephants.

Keywords

Asian elephant, blood biochemistry, physiological impact, probiotics

First Page

133

Last Page

138

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