The short duration of periods usually puts some
limitations on Latin squares that may require the results to
be interpreted with caution. Nevertheless, short terms of
yeast supplementation may practically be applied in tight
price situations or during early post-calving periods,
therefore, it was hoped that results of this trial would aid in
demonstrating the potential of SC and/or MOS to favorably
alter the performance or metabolism of cows within a short
time frame. We observed that digestibility of all of the
measured nutrients were affected by one or more of the
additives. In agreement with these results, Nocek and Kautz
(2006) found that potentially degradable DM of forage was
significantly higher for corn silage and mixed haylage when
cows received direct-fed microbials containing 1×1010 cfu/d
of live yeast. Also in supplemented cows, in situ
undegraded forage DM was consistently lower from 12 to
72 h ruminal incubation, than in un-supplemented cows.
Significant increases in digestibility of CP (Erasmus et al.,
1992; Wohlt et al., 1998) and cell wall constituents (Wohlt
et al., 1998) have also been observed with yeast