The use of in-feed organic acids as an alternative to antibiotic growth promotant
2007
Kok, P. C. | Chang, Y. K. | Loh, T. C.
It is desirable to enhance animal health status and growth performance in modern husbandry practices. Various methods have been explored to improve animal health and growth performance. These include better husbandry management, nutrition and utilisation of feed additives. The common feed additives used are antibiotic growth promotants (AGP), probiotics, enzymes and organic acids. Addition of AGP in the diet of animal is the most common, mainly due to their positive effects on growth and feed conversion efficiency. However, the extensive use of AGPs may expose animals to develop resistance to a number of pathogenic bacterial species. Likewise, cross-resistance may occur in the case of therapeutic antibiotics which belong to the same class of drugs. Some countries, especially in the European Union, have already imposed restrictions or prohibitions on the use of antibiotics as growth promotants. This has drawn attention to possible alternatives. In-feed organic acids are often suggested as alternative for replacing antibiotic. This paper will cover the effects of feeding single or combined organic acids in the diets of monogastric animals. Further, the possible mechanism involved as bactericidal will be discussed.
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