A. Adami et V. Cavazzoni, Occurrence of selected bacterial groups in the faeces of piglets fed with Bacillus coagulans as probiotic, J BASIC MIC, 39(1), 1999, pp. 3-9
A microbiological analysis of piglet faeces was performed on samples collec
ted from animals fed a diet without any additive, animals fed a diet that c
ontained Bacillus coagulans CNCM I-1061 as probiotic, and animals fed a die
t that contained Zn-bacitracin. The analysis was carried out in concurrence
with a zootechnical trial. Selected bacterial groups (lactic acid bacteria
, lactococci, enterococci, aerobic and anaerobic cocci, total and faecal co
liforms, clostridia, bacteroides, bifidobacteria) were determined at day 1
and after 1, 4 and 10 weeks of life. Numbers of enterococci, coliforms (esp
ecially faecal coliforms) showed a decrease over time with probiotic, more
evident than with the antibiotic. Daily administration of B. coagulans allo
wed this bacterium to become integrated into the enteric microflora where i
t is transient These results seem to show a positive effect of B. coagulans
addition on cocci and faecal coliforms. We suggest that this probiotic may
represent an alternative to antibiotics.