Direct-Fed Microbials for Ruminant Animals (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Improvements in feed utilization, animal production and health, and animal food safety are the goals of rumen microbial studies. These goals may be achieved by facilitating desirable fermentation, minimizing ruminal disorders, and excluding pathogens. Several feed additives have been used to improve animal performance and feed efficiency and to prevent disease. Antibiotics, probiotics (direct-fed microbials, DFM) and prebiotics (microbial growth promoters) have been studied to manipulate the microbial ecosystem and fermentation characteristics in the rumens and intestinal tracts of livestock animals.