Antibiotic alternatives: the substitution of antibiotics in animal husbandry?

Abstract

It is a common practice for decades to use of sub-therapeutic dose of antibiotics in food-animal feeds to prevent animals from diseases and to improve production performance in modern animal husbandry. In the meantime, concerns over the increasing emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria due to the unreasonable use of antibiotics and an appearance of less novelty antibiotics have prompted efforts to develop so-called alternatives to antibiotics. Whether or not the alternatives could really replace antibiotics remains a controversial issue. This review summarizes recent development and perspectives of alternatives to antibiotics. The mechanism of actions, applications, and prospectives of the alternatives such as immunity modulating agents, bacteriophages and their lysins, antimicrobial peptides, pro-, pre-, and synbiotics, plant extracts, inhibitors targeting pathogenicity (bacterial quorum sensing, biofilm, and virulence), and feeding enzymes are thoroughly discussed. Lastly, the feasibility of alternatives to antibiotics is deeply analyzed. It is hard to conclude that the alternatives might substitute antibiotics in veterinary medicine in the foreseeable future. At the present time, prudent use of antibiotics and the establishment of scientific monitoring systems are the best and fastest way to limit the adverse effects of the abuse of antibiotics and to ensure the safety of animal-derived food and environment.

Effect of lavender (<i>Lavandula Stoechas</i>) essential oil on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality and antioxidant status of broilers

“…Substantial evidence indicated that plant bioactives have positive implications on gut health and productive performance of poultry, and are generally recognized as safe (Yang et al, 2015;Franz et al, 2010). Nevertheless, the use of phytogenic compounds as animal feed additives may include potential side effects such as toxicity (Lambert et al, 2001;Cheng et al, 2014). Hence, as stated by Yang et al, (2015), a complete assessment of the toxicity and safety of phytogenic compounds is needed before the compounds can be used extensively in animal feeds.…”

Inulin-type fructans trigger changes in iron concentration and activity of bone metabolism biomarkers in blood plasma of growing pigs

“…Prebiotics seem to be one of the most promising group of substances that may exert such properties (Cheng et al, 2014). Prebiotics are defined as a 'non-digestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon, thus improving host health'.…”

The in vitro effect of Garden Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) extract on Brachyspira hyodysenteriae

“…Effective substances of garden thyme also affect the antibiotic-resistant microbes [23][24][25][26]; in certain cases, they might replace antibiotics [27][28][29] and might present sound alternative to growth promoters [4,30]. These joint effects improve food safety and sustainability of animal agriculture.…”