PHOTO: VINCENT TER BEEK
HEAL ▶▶▶TH
Table 1 – Global feed and veterinary antibiotic consumption in 2015. Feed consumption
World China
United States EU-28*
Rest of world
960 million tonnes 20% 18% 16% 46%
Source: Mauricio Dutra; USDA, ESVAC, AFIA, IFIF. * In this year, the United Kingdom was still part of the EU.
Medicine and ABCS. Charli Ludtke, technical director at ABCS, says, “We are working together with producers and MAPA to make this transition in the short, medium and long term and achieve the plan’s objectives.” She emphasises awareness and understanding on the subject among farmers and other entities through commu- nication, education and training to reduce the incidence of infections as the first step to increasingly optimise the use of antimicrobials. In line with the National Action Plan, the first cycle of “struc- turing activities” has been developed since 2018; this initia- tive will be finished by 2022. The agenda includes lectures, online courses, webinars and development of the manual Ra- tional Use of Antibiotics, Biosafety and Animal Welfare: A Vision Applied to Swine, which will be launched in the course of 2021. Ludtke adds, “The publication will bring specific protocols for responsible usage of antimicrobials in swine farming, as well as alternatives such as eubiotic substitutes (organic acids, probiotics, prebiotics, essential oils, minerals and others), vac- cination plans, improvement of animal welfare inside farms and biosecurity.”
ABCS understands the issue requires an integrative approach that implies working together with all players in the sector. She concludes, “The current national status is still in transi- tion, but we have effective actions that can really have results at a national level. Brazil’s pig industry already includes many farms that have replaced their practices and have good rates of productivity.”
Antibiotic consumption 63,500 tonnes 23% 23% 13% 41%
Brazil’s National Action Plan is aimed at further reducing the country’s dependence on antibiotics in pig production.
Inside the pig houses Researcher Mauricio Dutra wrote his PhD thesis on antimicro- bial use in swine production. One part of the study was pre- sented in 2019 and includes data from all over the world as well as field research in Brazilian farms in 2017. From the 18,100 farms in the country, the research included 25 farms and evaluated the use of 11 types of antibiotics per animal weight group. The results shows an average of 358.4µg/kg of live pig. The smallest number was 5.4µg and the highest 585.6µg. In other words, there are extremely different realities regarding practices inside pig houses. Dutra comments, “The study shows that systems with up to 172µg/kg have higher production per sow per year. These ones achieved above 3.2 tonnes of meat per sow, while ones that use more than 344µg achieve just 2.7 tonnes. In other words, productiveness depends on whole systems, not exclusively on antibiotics.” Among the 25 most productive systems, 72% do use and 28% do not use antimicrobials preventively at nursery phase in the piglets. The most often used molecules, for example, are ceft- iofur (40%), amoxicillin (24%) and gentamicin (16%). The field research also pointed to increased microbial resistance, as 80% of those farms were positive for methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Dutra adds, “There is a scientific consensus about effective al- ternatives for producers, instead of increasing antimicrobial usage. A group of 111 experts from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland created a check- list, and the top three priorities are internal biosecurity, vaccination protocol and feeding.”
2016 Colistin prohibited for import and manufacture as a performance-en- hancing additive in animal feed.
2020 Tylosin, lincomycin and tiamulin pro- hibited for import, manufacture, sale and use as performance-enhancing additives for animals.
A global picture Interestingly, Dutra’s data also take a look across the borders. In 2015, the world’s total animal consumption of feed reached 960 million tonnes, while antibiotic usage reached 63,500 tonnes. The breakdown of those figures can be seen in Table 1. Quoting other authors, Dutra’s study projects that by 2030, a global average of 172µg/kg of live animal will be reached. Finally, the main consumers will be China (30,000 tonnes), US (10,000 tonnes), Brazil (8,500 tonnes), India (4,200 tonnes) and Mexico (2,100 tonnes), with the greatest percentage in- creases taking place in Africa and Asia.
12 ▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 29, No. 8, 2021
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
