Product Information

• ProbiVit-E is specifically formulated to help reboot the gut and provide essential microorganisms that promote healthy digestion. Including Vitamin E is especially beneficial, as it plays a critical role in supporting the animal’s immune system, which can be compromised in young animals with low levels of Vitamin E in their colostrum.
• Probivit-E’s unique blend of microorganisms and Vitamin E makes it an invaluable tool during the transition period when young animals are at a higher risk of developing conditions such as metritis, retained placentas, and mastitis. ProbiVit-E helps reduce the risk of these conditions by providing a source of Vitamin E, promoting the overall health and welfare of young farm animals.

• A balanced population of gut bacteria is crucial for maintaining optimal animal health and productivity. Unfortunately, stress can significantly disrupt this balance, damaging animal health (Bailey et al., 2011).
• Probiotics offer a promising solution for restoring gut function and immunity during times of stress by modulating the gut microbiome and enhancing gut health, leading to improved growth performance and reduced susceptibility to disease in farm animals (Gaggìa et al., 2018; Zou et al., 2018).
  • The probiotic Enterococcus faecium has been shown to improve gut health in animals by increasing the prevalence of beneficial bacteria, reducing the pathogenic bacterial load, modulating tight junctions, and inhibiting the growth of pathogens through the production of bacteriocins (Borges et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2019; Cui et al., 2019).
  • The probiotic Enterococcus faecium can boost immune cell function, regulate the gut immune response, and enhance gut barrier function, preventing animal diarrhoea and weight gain (Zhong et al., 2021; Ohashi et al., 2017).
• Combining the probiotic Enterococcus faecium with vitamin E provides a unique product that can successfully maintain animal health and productivity, especially during periods of stress and block the entry of gut-based diseases (Kogan and Kocher, 2007; Marai et al., 2012).
• Probiotics effectively restore gut function and immunity during stress, improving farm animals’ overall health and well-being.

Technical Information

Probiotics 

Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host animal by boosting the gut flora and preventing diarrhoea (National Research Council, 2007). Feeding animals, probiotic products can lead to improved growth promotion, reduced incidence of disease, and gut functional benefits (Berge et al., 2017).

Enterococcus faecium is one of the most critical lactic acid-producing bacterial species used in probiotics and has been shown to protect animals from various gut-active pathogenic microorganisms (Cui et al., 2019). 

• This bacterium can provide several benefits to animals, including aiding digestion and helping to maintain a healthy mix of bacteria in the gut, which is beneficial after stress, infection, or antibiotic treatment (Ohashi et al., 2017). 
• These lactic-acids–producing bacteria decrease the gut pH and create a more favourable environment for the growth of beneficial commensal microorganisms (Kovacs et al., 2019). Furthermore, 
• Enterococcus faecium can produce and release natural antibiotics called bacteriocins in the gut lumen, which can inhibit the growth of pathogens and out-compete them for nutrients or adhesion sites, thereby decreasing the risk of pathogen establishment and infection (Borges et al., 2014).

Research on animal models has indicated that Enterococcus faecium spp can boost immune cell function (Zhong et al., 2021). Furthermore, these bacterial-based probiotics have been shown to directly interact with the host, modulating the gut immune response, leading to increased mucin production by goblet cells, enhancing gut barrier function by increasing tight junctions and promoting regulation of the inflammatory response. In addition, the probiotic Enterococcus faecium has been reported to possess immune-regulatory characteristics and can prevent diarrhoea and promote weight gain (Ohashi et al., 2017). 

• Studies have shown that adding Enterococcus faecium to animal feed modifies the composition of the intestinal bacterial community by increasing the prevalence of beneficial bacteria and reducing the pathogenic bacterial load (Liu et al., 2019). In addition, enterococcus faecium can affect trans-epithelial electrical resistance and epithelial permeability while modulating tight junctions lining the gut wall (Kovacs et al., 2019).
• When Enterococcus faecium binds to sites on the surface of cells in the gut, it sets up a protective barrier around the gut (Cui et al., 2019). Also, by competing for these sites, harmful microbes can bind less and infect the gut. In short, the proposed mechanisms for the probiotic Enterococcus faecium can be divided into three main categories: (1) direct beneficial interaction with host cells in the gut, (2) inhibition of gut pathogen growth, and (3) modulation of the host immune responses (Borges et al., 2014).

Vitamin E

The combination of vitamin E and probiotic Enterococcus faecium provides a unique product that can be used successfully during periods of stress to maintain animal health and productivity while blocking the entry of gut-based diseases (Kogan and Kocher, 2007).

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays a crucial role in animal growth and health by maintaining immune function and preventing muscular dystrophy in young calves (Marai et al., 2012). Unfortunately, vitamin E cannot be synthesised in the mammalian body and must be provided through food or supplementation (Kaplan et al., 2006).

• Vitamin E also influences muscle function, including the contraction of muscles for movement, heartbeat, rumen, and lung function (Kumar et al., 2014). Vitamin E also affects animal feed conversion efficiency, growth, and reproduction (Dhiman et al., 2012).
• During the prepartum period, levels of vitamin E decline gradually in the blood, reaching their lowest levels around calving (O’Doherty et al., 2005). Therefore, vitamin E is critical for pre-calving, as deficiencies can increase the incidence of mastitis and retained placentas around transition (O’Doherty et al., 2005). In addition, vitamin E deficiency can also reduce the reproductive performance of cows and bulls (Kumar et al., 2014).
• One of the most important roles of vitamin E is to support the immune response to infectious diseases, thereby preventing cell and tissue damage in various parts of the body, including the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, muscle, and skin (Kaplan et al., 2006). As an antioxidant, vitamin E also ensures high quality and maximisation of the viability of probiotic microorganisms (Hernandez-Velasco et al., 2016).