Effect of Combination of Yeast (Saccharomyces Cerevisae + Candida Utilis) and Herbs Supplementation in Finishing Diet on Carcass Characteristics of Beef Cattle

A 75 days feeding trial was completed to study the effect of inclusion of a combined probioticyeast+herbs in finishing diet on carcass characteristics of beef cattle. Thirty bull of Ongole crossbred,age 2.5-3 years old with average body weight (BW) of 320 kg were used in this experiment. They weredivided into 2 groups, each of 15 animals and were allotted to control and treatment. They wereslaughtered at around 450 kg BW. The treated animals were given a supplementation containingcombined yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae and Candida utilis) and herbs. All animals were fed a diet ofammoniated rice straw and commercial concentrate with a ratio of 10: 90. Addition of combinedprobiotics + herbs in the diet increased percentage of carcass, dressing and meat, but there were noeffect on live weight gain (LWG), % bone, meat:bone ratio, % body fat, back fat thickness and eyemuscle area. There was a reduction in the percentage of offal due to a decrease in intestinal weight in thetreated animal.


INTRODUCTION
Yeast cultures based on Saccharomyces cerevisae are widely used as feed additive in ruminant diet since the global concern over the use of antibiotics and growth promoters in feed for food production. Yeast supplementation may be beneficial in feedlot where diet is switched from forage-based to grain-based and ruminal acidosis continues to be a common ruminal digestive disorder. Several studies have indicated that live yeasts are capable to stabilize rumen pH under subacute rumen acidosis which can develop rapidly to acute acidosis if the circumstances deteriorate (Chayucheryas-Durand et al., 2008). The most consistent results observed with supplementation of yeast in ruminants is an increase in the number of rumen bacterial cells (Newbold et al., 1998). A number of mechanisms have been proposed how small amounts of yeast can stimulate microbial numbers in the rumen (Newbold et al., 1996;Jouany and Morgavi, 2007;Chaucheryas-Durand et al., 2008). Furthermore, Erasmus et al. (1992) indicated that Saccharomyces cerevisae supplementation was associated with an increased flow of microbial protein leaving the rumen and enhanced supply of amino acids entering the small intestine. Therefore, it is likely that addition of yeast in the diet, will have beneficial effect on milk and meat production.
The response to yeast supplementation on Combination of Yeast and Herbs on Beef Cattle Carcass (P. Mahyuddin and Winugroho) carcass characteristics were also variable; no improvement of carcass traits and meat quality of feedlot finished steers (Mir and Mir, 1994;Hinmann et al., 1998;Gomes et al., 2009), or finished goats (Whitley et al., 2009;Titi et al., 2008a). Addition of yeast culture in finish diet reduced meat/bone ratio and tissue protein in lambs and goats, increased fat content in lambs but not in goats (Titi et al., 2008a). Chaucherys-Durand et al. (2008) concluded that the effects of yeast supplementation vary depending on factors such as strain of yeast and its viability, nature of the diet or animal management. In South East Asia, the smallholders have been using herbs as feed supplement to prevent or cure animal disease. The popular one is Curcuma sp which contain antibacterial curcumine and Alpina galanga which is believed to improve appetite.
The aim of the present paper was to evaluate the effect of combination of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae + Candida utilis) and herbs in finishing diet on carcass characteristics of beef cattle.

Animals, Experimental Procedures and Treatment Diets
Thirty Ongole crossed bulls aged 2.5 -3 years were divided into 2 groups using stratified body weight (BW). The mean of initial body weight of each group was 323 kg. Each group (15 animals) was placed in a shaded paddock for 75 days to reach a slaughter weight of 400 -450 kg. The groups were the control and the treatment. All animals received the same ration (Table 1) ad libitum 2 times a day. At the start the animals were offered a diet consisting of 1: 1 (ammoniated rice straw: concentrate) and gradually this ratio was increased to 1: 9. The treatment group was offered with an additional probiotics and herbs as supplement. Total of the feed offered and refused were recorded daily.
Each animal was weighed at the start of fattening and before slaughtering after a 12-h period of fasting. Immediately after slaughtering, the right side was quartered and the hind quarter was dissected into deboned and trimmed commercial joints, following the local butchering procedure.

Chemical Analysis
Chemical analyses were done according to AOAC (1990). In vitro organic matter digestibility of ammoniated rice straw and concentrate were determined using the method of Tilley and Terry (1963) to calculate metabolizable energy (ME) content, ME = 0.15% DOM Meat sample was taken from longissimus dorsi between 12 th and 13 th rib for rib eye area determination and sample of sirloin was taken for proximate analysis and fatty acid composition. Fatty acid analysis was done by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC

Statistical Analysis
Comparison between control and treated animals were done using t-test (Steel and Torrie, 1980)

Live weight gain and Dry matter Intake
The inclusion of combined probiotics (Saccharomyces cerevisae + Candida utilis) and herbs in the diet, did not affect LWG (Table  3).This may be due to the DMI was similar in both control and treated steers. However, there was only one value for DMI for treated and control animals since animals in each group were fed together, therefore could not be used statistically. If the value of DMI is true mean value, then the feed conversion ratios (FCR) were also similar for both control and treated animals. In this experiment the addition of herbs which was supposed to improve appetite did not show the effect on the treated animals. In the previous experiment using male buffalo Mahyuddin and Widiawati (2010) also found similar results. Response to yeast supplementation on growth has been inconsistent. There was no significant improvement on LWG in animal supplemented with yeast culture were also observed by Cabrera et al. (2000), Ramirez et al. (2007), Kawas et al. (2007a) Titi et al. (2008b) and Gomes et al. (2009) whereas Haddad and Goussous (2005) and Tripathi et al. (2010) found increased LWG in lambs treated yeast.
In this study, concentrate was offered at gradual increase up to 90% in the diet. It seemed that the buffaloes in this study had been well adapted with the high concentrate diet. Beachemin et al. (2003) and Krehbiel et al. (2003) noted that when feedlot cattle are already adapted to high grain diet, despite has low rumen pH, supplementation of direct fed bacterial +/yeast appears to be of limited value. In this experiment, although rumen pH was not determined, there was no symptom of lactic acidosis being noted in the experimental animals. The supplementation of yeast + herbs was given when the animals were already adapted to the 10:90 ratio of ammonia-treated rice straw:  concentrate. Similar explanation may be offered to those studies whereby supplementation of yeast culture had lack of response to animals that had been already adapted to high energy diet. Denev et al. (2007) stated that addition of yeas culture in the diet is less effective when animals are fed well-balanced diets that promote the stability of gastrointestinal microbial population and are more likely to have dramatic effects under conditions of dietary and environmental stress. Therefore, this result calls for consideration of the use of probiotics in feedlot production from the standpoint of improved performance.

Carcass composition
Although LWG was not affected by addition of combined probiotics (Saccharomyces cerevisae + Candida utilis) + herbs, beef cattle in this experiment showed an increase in the percentage of carcass, dressing and meat in the treated animals (Table 3). In the previous experiment (Mahyuddin and Widiawati, 2010) using the same combination of yeasts and herbs, buffaloes showed no response on the above parameters. This is probably the first reported result where yeast supplementation in finishing diet has beneficial effect on carcass characteristics. The difference in response between cattle and buffalo may be attributed to a difference in the digestive physiology of the two species. Although buffaloes have a significantly higher bacterial number, cattle have a better digestive utilization of organic matter and cellulose on high concentrate diet than buffaloes (Puppo et al., 2002). Supplementation of yeast in high concentrate diet, which could enhance bacterial growth, stabilize rumen pH and increased supply of bacterial protein to the host animal (see Chaucheryas-Durand et al., 2008) and together with a longer residence time of digesta in postruminal in cattle as compared to that in buffalo (Bartocci et al., 1997), is therefore speculated to cause a better nutrient partitioning towards meat production as observed in this experiment. Various experiment also showed no effect of yeast supplementation on carcass characteristic of goats (Whitley et al., 2009), lambs (Kawas et al., 2007a;Titi et al., 2008a) and steers (Mir and Mir, 1994;Hinmann et al., 1998;Gomes et al., 2009).
In this experiment, cattle supplemented with probiotics + herbs showed no difference with the control in percentage of bone, meat: bone ratio, percentage of body fat, back fat thickness and eye muscle area (EMA). There was also no difference in the composition of meat fat between the control and treatment (Table 4). In male buffalo (Mahyuddin and Widiawati, 2010) the same combination of yeast and herbs added to the finishing diet, resulted in increased percentage of bone, reduced percentage of meat: bone ratio, body fat and offal. There is no explanation may be offered except that difference in the results of those two experiments may be due to differences in the animal species used as mentioned above. Variable results were noticed in the effect of yeast culture on percentage of body fat. Haryanto (2000) found a reduction in body fat of lambs, whereas Titi at al. (2008a) found an increase in body fat content of goat offered yeast culture.
The percentage of offal is lower in treated animals than that in control (Table 3) and was primarily due to lower intestinal content (Table 5). In buffalo, these probiotics + herbs supplementation also reduced percentage of offal, however, the reduction was caused not only by decreased intestinal content but also decreased lung and lymph content (Mahyuddin and Widiawati, 2010).
There have been inconsistent results of feeding probiotics as feed additive. Examination of literatures reveals that the rate of inclusion varies considerably, as does the type of probiotic (bacterial or yeast based or combination), the diet (forage base or grain base or ratio of forage:grain) and the time when the probiotic is given, the animal model being used and also the environment. Furthermore, certain probiotics may produce optimal results at specific points in the growth of animals. All those aspects should be thoroughly examined, in order to obtain more consistent results from probiotic use.
Although the beneficial effect of a combination of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae + Candida utilis) and herbs was observed in this experiment (increased carcass, dressing and meat percentage), this finding should not be taken conclusively. The addition of herbs in this study may have confounding effects, therefore more trials with a large number of experimental animals should be carried out to look at the effect of yeast with or without herbs or using single yeast or combination of yeasts.
Research on the use of herbal medicine in livestock should also be continued, more studies on the content of active compounds and the dose requirement for certain disease prevention or therapy should be carried out.

CONCLUSION
Addition of a combination of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae + Candida utilis) and herbs in the finishing diet of cattle did not alter LWG and DMI, but increased percentage of carcass, dressing and meat. Except the percentage of offal, the percentage of bone, meat; bone ratio, percentage of body fat, by-product, back fat thickness and eye muscle area were not different between the treated and control animal. The decrease in offal (% BW) was due to a reduction in intestine weight.