Turning nervous ewes to calm ones behavioral and biochemical indicators by use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae probiotic

The ewe's temperament is considered one of the most important factors that affect their lamb survival; recent studies demonstrate that temperament may also have productive, reproductive and economic implications to animal operations. Temperament often regarded as innate rather than learned, but many factors can affect it, such as social environment, habituation and experience. Including temperament in culling, selection scheme may improve the overall temperament and consequent improve performance but this need more effort and we can lose some benefits of temperamental breeds, so the alternate option is to turn the nervous sheep to calm one. Recent studies on probiotics reported their effect on the animal emotional behavior. A growing body of evidence suggests that the host-microbial interaction may result in dysregulation of neuro-immune functions; impacting behavior. The research idea is based on the investigation of the effect of probiotics administration on ewe's temperament. Twelve ewes were sampled for blood and tested for their temperament on a 5 point scale and divided accordingly to nervous and calm ewes, the nervous ones were orally administered the probiotic Actisaf® daily for one month, after which they scored again. Results showed significant (p<0.05) improve in their temperament toward calm line. That is confirmed biochemically by a significant (p<0.05) decrease in serum cortisol and serum lactate concentration in probiotic administered nervous ewes.