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

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

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 all, How are you! I have some research experiences for finding alternatives to antibiotics by using DFM, Organic acids, and Chlorea as a algae products. In these feeding trials, I found the same growth performances from both AGP and alternatives groups. So, I think, we dont need to use antibiotic as a growth promoters in poultry but we should look after and ensure the bio security in the farms premises as well as provide bio-safety in feeds. In addition, dont forget about the necessary vaccination for improving the immunity of the birds. Hopefully, we will produce AGP free chicken for the consumers. Have a great day! Dr. Salim, Poultry Nutritionist

Dear Tahir Mahmood, I think you are spot on about the importance and opportunity of using dietary modulation of the microbiome. I do believe that a lot of the inconsistent results observed with the use of most alternative interventions (ie., pro, pre, symbiotics, EOs, org. acids, etc.) is not due to the product itself, but in fact to the lack of attention to the formulation/composition of the diet in use at the moment. As I mentioned in the original interview in this forum, it is possible to raise animals with reduced use of antimicrobials (ie., with only disease-associated use - prevention, control, treatment), as long as a series of variables are controlled (eg., husbandry/management, environment, biosecurity, hygiene, etc.). In my opinion, one of the key factors to the success of any animal production system, and in particular, of any production system aiming at using minimum antimicrobials, is the diet, through nutrition (ie., diet formulation), as well as feeding management. Thanks for your great questions! Regards, MR.

Dear Tahir Mahmood, You pose a very interesting question on controlling quorum sensing. I confess I do not have the answer to this question, but do have my own perspective on it. I'm not sure antimicrobials successfully control quorum sensing, as our knowledge about this mechanism of communication between bacterial populations is still in very early stages. I do agree it exists and that it is fundamentally important. However, I don't think we currently know enough to determine if any of the available interventions (antimicrobials, probiotics, or any other approach) is capable to "control" quorum sensing. We still struggle to define the composition (let alone the "ideal" composition) of the microbiome, despite all the technological advances. In my opinion, until we are capable of understanding the real function of each group of microorganisms in the microbiome, we will continue to progress through "trial and error" attempts. In other words, if we are to manipulate the microbiome with any intervention available, we need to go way beyond the simple description of the composition or profiling the microbiome. Unfortunately, I don't think we are there yet. I hope this comment is helpful. Regards. MR

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

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