PARTNER FEATURE ▶▶▶
Promoting growth and feed efficiency with plant extracts
Given the total ban on AGPs in Europe and the current discussion of this in other parts of the world, using phytomolecules as an alternative to AGPs offers a viable and promising economic substitute. Studies show plant extracts have great potential to fill the gap left by the AGP ban.
BY ELISA ARNAUD, PANCOSMA A
ntibiotic growth promoters (AGP) started to be in- troduced in livestock farming about 50 years ago. They were used to improve production while lim- iting costs. Given that – due to the diversity of
their targets and their ability to develop resistance – antibi- otics are special drugs, their frequent use in livestock farm- ing has led to the emergence of resistant bacteria that cause certain treatment regimens to fail. The European Union banned their use as growth promoters in 2006 and since then they could only be distributed by veterinarians for therapeutic treatment.
Antimicrobial resistance challenge In 2018 the World Health Organization stated in a report that despite the measures already in place, antibiotic resist- ance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food safety and development. The emergence of resistant strains that are not sensitive to antibiotics is still a challenge in the agricultural sector today. Banning AGPs is not a sustainable solution and requires monitoring of nutritional strategies and interventions, as well as measures to prevent and control disease.
Table 1 – Summary of the meta-analysis of 38 trials on broilers.
Feed intake (g/d)
Average daily gain (g/d) FCR (g/g)
12
Negative control AGP treatment XTRACT® 6930 P-value 81.99 48.9b 1.73a
84.04 50.4a
1.71ab ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 3, 2020
84.09 51.3a 1.68b
0.40
0.001 0.01
Close monitoring of the propagation of resistance Using pharmacological, epidemiological and clinical data, committees of experts work to establish concentration thresholds beyond which antibiotics are no longer effective against a given bacterium. In France, this is the Antibiogram Committee of the French Society of Microbiology. A bacterial species is considered to be sensitive to a given antibiotic if the Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) of the majori- ty of strains are less than or equal to the average concentra- tions reached by the antibiotic during treatment. Working closely with laboratories, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) draws up plans every year to monitor the emergence of resistance. Samples of tissue and faeces from healthy animals are collected through slaughterhouses and MICs of ‘sentinel’ bacteria are determined using a sample group of antibiotics. EFSA has been collecting and analysing data for Europe since 2001.
European data Using the data collected by EU member states, EFSA produces annual summary reports together with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). They gather information on antibi- otic resistance but also zoonoses and outbreaks of foodborne diseases. These reports then give a picture of how the situa- tion is developing throughout Europe. In addition to this, the European Commission launched the ‘One Health’ (une seule santé) Action Plan in 2017, recognising that human health is closely linked to the health of animals and the environment. The programme is a collaboration be- tween 39 partners, including government experts in human and animal health, EU scientific agencies (ECDC, EMA and EFSA) and Commission experts from 19 European countries.
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