Dr. Marcos Rostagno speaks on the challenges and tendencies in reduction of antimicrobials in poultry

Beautiful insight!

Great discussions from all you. I liked very much my dear friend Andrés´comment/example on how we use to feed and kill bacteria thereafter with AGP. Reality is such that all these tools mentioned by you all can help, but with a good sense in its utilization. Moreover also mentioned, management, sanity, environmental conditions are of key importance. I come from the swine sector, yes, sorry about this, and in my experience years ago when in Denmark, back in 1999, started to feed pigs without antibiotics, the most common feedback from Nutritionist and people in the field was that specially those younger farmers were doing things better; why, you may ask yourself? Simply because they started from scratch, clean minded and for them the logical way of raising and feeding pigs was by means of the other alternatives plus an excellent management of the farm. Cheers from Madrid, Spain.

Dear Rostagno,
Can complete removal of antibiotics from feed lead to antibiotic free chicken meat? I think the antibiotics supplied through feed being large molecules are not absorbed in the birds body through intestinal absorption sites. The problem lies with those antibiotics which are injected directly.

Regards,
Tahir

Dear Colleagues,

First of all, thanks for the great discussion, and for sharing your perspectives. I reinforce the comments from our colleague, Rafael Duran. In general, there is more than just "switching overnight" from using antimicrobials to their removal from production systems. It is a process, and it needs to be progressively developed, detecting challenges and adapting accordingly. However, the mindset is key, being it based on a change of the way of thinking, or as mentioned, a new way of thinking (as in the case of young/new or even "clean" minds). Undoubtedly, nutrition plays a critical role, as we need to keep in mind that when we are feeding the animals, we are also providing substrate (ie., feeding) the intestinal microbiome.

Specifically on the comment posted by our colleague, Tahir Mahmood: Please, be careful with the use of the term "antibiotic-free chicken" or "antibiotic-free meat", as it causes some confusion. Antimicrobial molecules (many of them - not all) can be absorbed through the intestinal tract, and accumulate in different tissues of the body. Therefore, the risk of residues is not limited to injected antimicrobials. However, if the labels are followed, and in some cases, the withdrawal period is respected (whenever required for a specific molecule), there should be no risk of antimicrobial residues. By following the labels, we can assure that all meat or poultry is in fact antibiotic-free (ie., with no antimicrobial residues). In my opinion, the appropriate term that we should use is "raised or produced with no antimicrobials", avoiding to use "antimicrobial-free" to minimize confusion. I hope this explanation is clear and helps you.

Thank you all for contributing to the discussion! Please, keep them coming!

Best regards to all,

MR

Dear All,
I came across a useful article that further sheds light on the use of alternatives to antimicrobial. The concept of SEED, FEED and WEED really appeals me. Below is the link of that article:

http://www.worldpoultry.net/Health/Articles/2016/8/Antibiotics-and-bacteria-The-right-balance-2852396W/?cmpid=NLC|dairy_global|2016-10-18|Antibiotics_and_bacteria:_Finding_the_right_balance

Regards,
Tahir

I do agree with Dr. Marcos, the use of antibiotics in the animal industry in general, rely on the ethics of the producers. If the label is not followed and the withdrawal period is not observed, residues can not be eliminated. The use of herbal products is meant to stimulate the immune system and improve the gut condition to reduce microbial load in the gut and improve FCR.

Salah Eldin
skype abusohail93

Dear salahEldeen,
The use of herbal products in broiler studies yield variable results so it is quite difficult to give a conclusive evidence of their effect in poultry.
Tahir

does this anti microbial work to kill worms on the litter?