The livestock industry will have to find antibiotic alternatives as pressure mounts against their use in animal production, says a European animal nutrition professor.
Antibiotics have already been banned in European livestock production over fears of increasing human resistance, Paolo Bosi of the University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy, told the recent Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference held in Saskatoon.
He said antibiotics improve livestock growth by reducing competing micro-organisms in the gut, which allows animals to retain more nutrients from their feed.
Improved nutrition strategies can accomplish the same goal, he added.
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He said a diet rich in carbohydrates with high digestibility can benefit the growth of pigs in the early weeks after weaning.
As well, introducing formic, fumaric and citric acids into animals’ diets can improve growth, feed conversion and feed intake in pigs.
Herb extracts and oils, such as thyme extract and oregano and cinnamon oil, are another option.
When using probiotics to change gut composition, Bosi recommended giving them to mothers or newborn animals rather than waiting until the animals are weaned because by then the microorganisms have established in their guts.
Bosi said zinc oxide has been shown to reduce diarrhea and improve growth, but he warned there are also significant problems, such as excessive buildup of the nutrient in animals’ livers.
Bosi noted that none of alternatives produce positive effects comparable to those of antibiotics.
