In this course we are going to detail the actions of probiotic bacteria on the various feedstuffs that animals consume and illustrate how these bacterial actions improve the digestion and availability of essential nutrients; nutrients that animals can use to maintain themselves, defend themselves, grow, and produce meat, milk, or eggs.

• Some probiotics can convert sugars to organic acids that improve the intestinal environment and that serve as precursors to absorbable volatile fatty acids.
• Some probiotics produce an array of enzymes that drive the digestion of relatively hard-to-digest fibers and that improve the solubility of proteins.
• Not all bacteria are equal in their ability to interact positively with feedstuffs: strain matters!

You will need 15 minutes to take this course.