Effect of a Mushroom (Coriolus versicolor) Based Probiotic on Goat Health

Abstract

Maintenance of an adequate immune response is essential to goat health. CorPet biomass is a mushroom (Coriolus versicolor) based probiotic used as an immune-stimulant in man, horses and small animals. Fifteen BoerXSpanish goats were used in a crossover design to evaluate the effect of a commercial mushroom based probiotic across two periods on resilience of goats to gastrointestinal parasites in pasture based systems. Following initial screening for infection, goats were assigned to three groups of five (n = 15) individuals. Powdered CorPet was soaked in hot or cold water and sterile filtered. Goats were drenched daily with 10 mL of the hot (treatment I) or cold (treatment II) extract daily for an 8 week period. A control group of five age-matched goats received sterile water (treatment III). Body Weight (BW), Fecal Egg Count (FEC), FAMACHA scores, Packed Cell Volume (PCV) and White Blood Cell Differential counts (WBC) were determined weekly. The concentration of total serum protein, 8 Pro-inflammatory cytokines and Prostaglandin (PGE2) secretion was evaluated using commercial ELISAs for each. Treatment had no effect on BW, FEC, FAMACHA scores, PCV and WBC. Total serum protein concentration (p<0.001) increased. Increased levels of interferon production regulator (IFNr), Rantes and Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (GCSF) and decreased levels of Granulocyte Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF) were observed in treated goats. The concentration of PGE2 decreased in all groups over the study period of 8 weeks. Greater changes were observed in treated goats (65-80%) compared to control (50%). Thus in goats CorPet may modulate innate immunity through differential regulation of the secretion of serum proteins including cytokines and PGE2 to impact goat health.