Animal feed compositions and feed additives

1. An animal feed composition comprising a mixture of:

a. a prebiotic selected from the group comprising inulin, fructo-, gluco-, or galcto-oligosaccharides;

b. a probiotic bacteria comprising a mixture of Lactobacillus microorganisms produced by submerged liquid fermentation wherein the resulting organisms have been dried to a moisture content less than about 10% then ground to produce a powder having a mean particle size of less than about 800 microns;

c. a Bacillus probiotic bacteria produced by submerged liquid fermentation wherein the resulting organism has been dried to a moisture content less than about 10% then ground to produce a powder having a mean particle size of less than about 800 microns;

d. a postbiotic, wherein the postbiotic is dried liquid fermentation medium of the Lactobacillus microorganisms; and

e. a filler material.

2. The composition of claim 1 wherein the mixture of Lactobacillus comprises Pediococcus acidilactici, Pediococcus pentosaceus , and Lactobacillus plantarum.

3. The composition of claim 2 wherein the mixture of Lactobacillus is prepared by mixing the individual Lactobacillus species produced via submerged liquid fermentation, wherein each of the Lactobacillus bacteria are individually anaerobically fermented to produce an individual anaerobic fermentation, harvested, dried, and ground to produce a powder having a mean particle size of 295 microns, with 60% of the mixture in the size range between 175-900 microns.

4. The composition of claim 1 wherein the Bacillus is a Bacillus subtilis having the 16S nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.

5. The composition of claim 3 , wherein the postbiotic is prepared by:

a. collecting the supernatants from the centrifugation of each of the individual anaerobic fermentations of Pediococcus acidilactici, Pediococcus pentosaceus , and Lactobacillus plantarum;

b. combing the supernatants obtained from step (a);

c. freeze-drying the mixed supernatants to a moisture content less than about 5% by weight; and

d. grinding the dried, mixed supernatants to a mean particle size of 295 microns, with 60% of the mixture in the size range between 175-900 microns.

6. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the filler comprises rice, soy, or wheat bran, rice, soy, or wheat flour, corn meal, rye, barley, sorghum, dextrose, sucrose, fructose, maltodextrin, starch or any combination thereof.

7. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the prebiotic, lactobacillus probiotic, and postbiotic components are combined in equal weight proportion.

8. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the bacillus probiotic is mixed with the prebiotic, lactobacillus probiotic, and postbiotic mix at a ratio of from 1:1 to 1:20.

9. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of pre-, pro-, and postbiotic components to cereal grain filler ranges from about 1:1 to about 3:1.

10. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the final bacterial concentration is between about 10 6 and 10 11 colony forming units (cfu) per gram.

11. An animal feed composition comprising 0.01 to 10.0% of the composition of claim 1 .

12. An animal feed composition according to claim 11 , wherein the pre-, pro-, postbiotic mixture is coated onto the feed particles using a wax, fat, sugar, oil or polysaccharide binder.

13. An animal feed composition according to claim 11 , wherein the pre-, pro-postbiotic mixture is integrated into a feed pellet.

14. An animal feed composition according to claim 11 , wherein the pre-, pro-, postbiotic mixture is integrated into a mash feed.

15. A process for dosing animals with the pre-, pro-, and postbiotic mixture of claim 1 , wherein the mixture is dissolved into the animals' drinking water supply.

16. A process according to claim 15 wherein the pre-, pro-, and postbiotic mixture is dosed into the water supply between about 0.1 and 1 kg per 1000 liters.

17. A method of feeding an animal, the method comprising administering to the animal the animal feed composition according to any one of claims 1 to 14 .

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the animal is shrimp, fin fish, poultry, swine, ruminants or companion pets.