Meat Science Commons^™

The Role Of Direct-Fed Microbials In Conventional Livestock Production, Joe O. Buntyn, Ty Schmidt, David J. Nisbet, Todd R. Callaway

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Supplementation of direct-fed microbials (DFM) as a means to improve the health and performance of livestock has generated significant interest over the past 15+ years. A driving force for this increased interest in DFM is to reduce or eliminate the use of low-dose antibiotics in livestock production. This increased attention toward DFM supplementation has generated an extensive body of research. This effort has resulted in conflicting reports. Although there has been considerable variation in the design of these studies, one of the main causes for this lack of consistency may be attributed to the variation in the experimental immune challenge …