Isolation, Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria for Development of Cattle Probiotics (Phase 1)

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Dairy farms in Kuwait are managed in an intensive system due to its extremely arid and harsh environment. Dry and dusty conditions induce animal stress and tend to reduce energy reserves that weaken the immune system making the animal more susceptible to disease. In 2001, cattle mortality rate in Kuwait was found to be as high as 90% and morbidity rate, 100%, causing serious loss to the dairy producers. The relatively high rate of calf mortality is attributed to enterotoxaemia, diarrhea and pasteurella pneumonia. Very large quantities of antibiotics are fed to animals; a real danger has arisen as a result of the abuse of antibiotics of producing antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can cause disease in humans and animals. Probiotics are living micro-organisms, which, when ingested by humans or animals, can beneficially influence health by changing the intestinal flora. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) refer to a large group of beneficial bacteria that have similar properties. This study is proposed in view of the need for the production of locally produced LAB strains for the development of cattle probiotics that will be isolated from the ruminant digestion system. These cattle probiotics will be examined against selected grampositive and gram-negative pathogens using in vitro antagonistic tools to test its bacterial tolerance to bile salts and low pH. In addition, the selected LAB strains will be assessed for their probiotic potential.