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Bulletin No. 21 - Spring 2005
VirologyInternational Society for Animal Hygiene ? Saint-Malo - 2004
KOCHER A, CONNOLLY A, ZAWADZKI J, GALLET D
The challenge of finding alternatives to antibiotics growth promoters.
Proceedings of the International Society for Animal Hygiene, 2004, 227-229
In 2006, the ban on the use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) in all animal feed will come into force in the European Union (EU). This ban arises from the very controversial ability of AGP to increase resistance to antibiotics in animals and humans. What kinds of alternatives can be used to maintain the levels of growth performance and feed conversion rates achieved so far through the use of AGP? Two conditions should be fulfilled: nutrient utilization should be optimized and gut microflora should be maintained under control. Thus, nutrition seems the only possible way. Feeding pigs with balanced and highly digestible diets will provide more nutrients for growth performance and less substrates for microorganisms. To do so, several additives may be able to replace AGP through various strategies: exogenous enzymes improve nutrient utilization by the host; cytokins, vaccines and Mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS) stimulate and modulate the immune system; fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) and probiotics stimulate or introduce beneficial bacteria; antimicrobial peptides, organic acids, bacteriocins and MOS reduce pathogens. Both exogenous enzymes and MOS have been studied extensively and prove effective in improving growth performance.
