Antibiotic Growth promoters

Situ, C. and C.T. Elliott. 2005. Simultaneous and rapid detection of five banned antibiotic growth promoters by immunoassay. Anal. Chim. Acta 529 89-96. 

Gauthier, R. 2005. Organic acids and essential oils, a realistic alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in poultry. I Forum Internacional de avicultura 17-19 August 2005, pp. 148-157. 

Jackson, M.E. K. Geronian A. Knox J. McNab E. McCartney. A dose-response study with the feed enzyme P-mannanase in broilers provided with corn-soybean meal based diets in the absence of antibiotic growth promoters. Poultry Sci. 2004, 83, 1992—1996. 

Walsh, M., Sholly, D., Kelly, D., Cobb, M., Trapp, S., Hinson, R., Sutton, A., Radcliffe, S., Harmon, B., Smith, J. and Richert, B. (2003b) Evaluation of organic and inorganic acids in various feeding programs as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters for nursery pigs. 2003 Swine Research Report. Purdue University, pp. 99-107. 

Trial data showed that the inclusion of an acidifier in broiler feed can successfully replace an antibiotic growth promoter in commercial Indian broiler production, and can support increased production efficiency. 

Increased awareness from consumers and producers has resulted in calls for more responsible and sustainable aquaculture. Public opinion and regulation authorities in most export countries focus now on the misuse of antibiotics in aquaculture, and public attention has focussed on alternative production methods (Verbeeke, 2001 Feedinfo, 2005). Furthermore, the EU has banned all antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) from livestock production since January 2006, as the use of low level AGPs in animal feeds carries the possibility of resistance transfer from the bacterial community to species that are pathogenic in humans (Liem, 2004). 

Recently, a trial with organic acid salts was also carried out with rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (de Wet, 2005). This study evaluated an organic acid blend (5-15 kg/t), mainly consisting of formate and sorbate, for use in trout nutrition to improve performance parameters, in comparison with some commonly used antibiotic growth promoters (40 ppm Flavomycin). Rainbow trout fingerlings (initial weight 40 g) were kept in flow-through ponds and fed three times daily to apparent satiety. The experiment lasted for three months (table 1). 

Table 1. Influence of dietary treatment with an oi anic add blend on rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss performance compared to an antibiotic growth promoter (AGP) (de Wet, 2005)...

The use of organic acids however was not only tested in Salmoniformes, but also in tropical warm-water species, like tilapia or catfish. Ramli et al. (2005) tested the use of potassium-diformate as a non-antibiotic growth promoter in tilapia grow-out in Indonesia. In this study fish were fed 6 times a day over a period of 85 days with different concentrations of potassium-diformate (0, 2, 3 and 5 kg/t feed). Fish were challenged orally, starting at day 10 of the trial period, with Vibrio anguillarum at 10 CFU per day over a period of 20 days. 

Lis Balchin, M., 2003. Feed additives as aiternatives to antibiotic growth promoters Botanicals. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on Digestive Physiology in Pigs, Vol. 1, pp. 333-352. Banff, Alberta, Canada University of Alberta. 

Demir E, Sarica, Ozcan MA et al (2003) The use of natural feed additives as alternatives for an antibiotics growth promoter in broiler diets. Br Poult Sd 44(Sl) 44-45 Deresse D (2010) Antibacterial effect of garlic (Allium sativum) on Staphylococcus aureus an in vitro study. Asian J Med Sd 2 62-65... 

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