Ruminally protected and unprotected Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation products as alternatives to antibiotics in finishing beef steers

The objectives of this study were to assess the effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation products (SCFP; NaturSafe, SCFPns; and Original XPC, XPC; Diamond V) on growth performance, carcass traits, immune response, and antimicrobial resistance in beef steers fed high-grain diets. Ninety Angus steers (initial body weight [BW], 533 +/- 9.8 kg) were assigned to a randomized complete design with 6 treatments (n = 15/treatment): 1) control, 2) low (12 g SCFPns.steer(-1).d(-1)), 3) medium (15 g SCFPns.steer(-1).d(-1)), 4) high SCFP (18 g SCFPns.steer(-1).d(-1)), 5) encapsulated XPC (eXPC; 7 g XPC.steer(-1).d(-1) encapsulated with 9 g capsule material), and 6) antibiotics (ANT; 330 mg monensin + 110 mg tylosin.steer(-1).d(-1)). Steers were fed ad libitum a diet containing 10% barley silage and 90% barley grain concentrate mix (dry matter basis) for 105 d. Increasing SCFPns tended (P < 0.09) to linearly increase feed efficiency. Average daily gain (ADG) tended (P < 0.10) to be greater in steers supplemented with eXPC than control. The SCFPns also tended (P < 0.10) to linearly increase marbling score. Proportion of severely abscessed livers tended (P < 0.10) to be lower in steers supplemented with medium and high SCFPns, eXPC, or ANT. A treatment x days on feed interaction were noticed (P < 0.01) for blood glucose, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and acute phase proteins. The concentration of blood glucose responded quadratically (P < 0.05) on days 28 and 56, whereas BUN linearly (P < 0.01) increased on day 105 with increasing SCFPns dose. The SCFPns linearly increased haptoglobin (P < 0.03) and serum amyloid A (SAA; P < 0.05) concentrations on day 105, and lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP; P < 0.01) on days 56 and 105. The percentage of erythromycin-resistant and erythromycin + tetracycline-resistant enterococci was greater (P < 0.05) with ANT than control, SCFPns, and eXPC, whereas no difference was observed among control, SCFPns, and eXPC. No treatment effect was detected on the percentage of tetracycline-resistant enterococci. These results indicate that feeding SCFPns and eXPC was beneficial in improving ADG, feed efficiency and decreasing liver abscesses in a manner comparable to ANT. Unlike antibiotics, SCFPns or eXPC did not increase antimicrobial resistance. Both SCFPns and eXPC are potential alternatives to in-feed antibiotics.