TITLE:
Evaluating the Effective Microbial Supplementation of Feed on the Load of Salmonella in Two Lymph Nodes of Beef Cattle in Eastern Ethiopia
AUTHORS:
Fuad Mohammed, Adem Hiko, Yesihak Yusuf, Jemal Yusuf, Mustefa Musse Ebro
KEYWORDS:
Salmonella, Lymph Node, Effective Microbial, Load
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.13 No.11,
November
10,
2022
ABSTRACT: The present study was conducted to evaluate the role of effective microbial supplementation to feed on the load of Salmonella in the mesenteric and sub-iliac lymph nodes of beef cattle. Bulls of Harer cattle breed managed at Chercher Oda-Bultum Farmers Union beef Farm were used as study subject. A total of 130 bulls were used using double blinded randomized controlled field trial based on parallel group design from January 2018 to July 2018. The study animals were randomly assigned to the treatment group (n = 100) and control group (n = 30). The feed of treatment group was mixed with EM at dose of 5 × 1010 cfu/day/head and supplemented for 90, 100 and 115 days while that of the control group was mixed with molasses, which acts as placebo. Both the treatment and control were slaughtered and two lymph nodes were collected from each animal under strict sterile condition and processed for the isolation and identification of Salmonella using standard procedure. A significant (p = 0.001) reduction in the load of Salmonella was observed in the lymph node of treatment group as compared to the control group. The load of Salmonella was significantly affected by length of feeding period and age of bulls. This study indicated that effective microbial supplementation to bulls from Harar cattle reduces the load of Salmonella in the lymph node of beef cattle thereby potentially minimizing the economic and public health impacts of Salmonella infection.