• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.86-95
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• 2000

Animal feed additives are used worldwide for many different reasons. Some help to cover the needs of essential nutrients and others to increase growth performance, feed intake and therefore optimize feed utilization. They can positively effect technological properties and product quality. The health status of animals with a high growth performance is a predominant argument in the choice of feed additives. In many countries the use of feed additives is more and more questioned by the consumers: substances such as antibiotics and $\beta$-agonists with expected high risks are banned in animal diets. Therefore, the feed industry is highly interested in valuable alternatives which could be accepted by the consumers. Probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes and highly available minerals as well as herbs can be seen as alternatives to metabolic modifiers and antibiotics.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Poultry Science Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.53-64
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• 2003

Dietary antibiotics at low, subtherapeutic levels have been shown to improve growth performance in farm animals. However, there is a trend to look for alternatives to dietary antibiotics, due to occurrence of antibiotic-resistance bacteria. The present review explored the essential oils as the possible alternative to dietary antibiotics. The antimicrobial activities of essential oils originating from plants have been well documented while their toxicological effects are seen only at very high doses. Hypocholesterolemic effect has been reported in chickens. Essential oils may stimulate the digestion process. In conclusion, dietary essential oils may be used as alternatives to antibiotics, but whether their effects on growth performance are a consequence of antimicrobial activity needs to be studied further.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.57-78
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• 2024

In a global context, bacterial diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria have inflicted sustained damage on both humans and animals. Although antibiotics initially appeared to offer an easy treatment for most bacterial infections, the recent rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria, stemming from antibiotic misuse, has prompted regulatory measures to control antibiotic usage. Consequently, various alternatives to antibiotics are being explored, with a particular focus on bacteriophage (phage) therapy for treating bacterial diseases in animals. Animals are broadly categorized into livestock, closely associated with human dietary habits, and companion animals, which have attracted increasing attention. This study highlights phage therapy cases targeting prominent bacterial strains in various animals. In recent years, research on bacteriophages has gained considerable attention, suggesting a promising avenue for developing alternative substances to antibiotics, particularly crucial for addressing challenging bacterial diseases in the future.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.1495-1500
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• 2003

Two bio-assays were conducted to evaluate turmeric root powder and mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS) as alternatives to feed antibiotics for broilers. In one trial, one hundred and eighty 19-days old broilers assigned to 18 groups of 10 were fed on one of six experimental diets with three replicates during four weeks. The diets included a basal feed without additives and with either virginiamycin, MOS, or turmeric at 1, 2 and 3 g/kg, respectively. In the second trial, one hundred and forty four 21-days old broilers arranged in 16 groups of nine were fed on the first four diets with four replicates for a similar period. Virginiamycin, MOS and turmeric (1 g/kg) in the first trial generally improved the weight gain of broilers by 3.4, 6.2 and 5.3%, respectively. In the second trial they increased the weight gain significantly (p<0.05) by 8.8, 8.0 and 15.1%, respectively. Additives improved the feed efficiency up to 15.1% and carcass recovery up to 3.1% (p<0.05). Virginiamycin, MOS and turmeric (1 g/kg) markedly reduced the abdominal fat content from 1.91% BW in the control to 1.44, 0.97 and 1.2% BW, respectively, in the first trial. The corresponding values obtained in the second trial were 1.01, 0.55 and 0.6%, respectively as compared to 1.22% in the control group. All additives showed a remarkable inhibition of duodenal coliform bacteria, yeast and mould in the caecum, and all viable microbes in the ileum. A significant (p<0.05) improvement in energy and protein utilization could be recorded with supplemented diets except for high turmeric diets. Dietary 2 and 3 g/kg addition of turmeric reduced energy and protein utilization as well as fat deposition. Present results reveal that turmeric and MOS are satisfactory alternatives to antibiotics in broiler feeds. Both MOS and turmeric possess an antimicrobial effect in vivo. Turmeric may also depress fat deposition in broilers.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.968-980
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• 2022

Due to the bad aspects associated with the use of antibiotics, the pressure on poultry production prompted the efforts to find out suitable growth-promoting and disease-preventing alternatives. Although many cost-effective alternatives have been developed, currently, one of the most auspicious alternatives for poultry feed is spore-forming probiotics, which can exert more beneficial effects as compared to normal probiotics, because of their ability to withstand the harsh external and internal conditions which result in increased viability. Many studies have already used spore-forming probiotics to improve different parameters of poultry production. Our laboratory has recently isolated a spore-forming bacterial strain, which has the potential to be used as a probiotic. So, to provide a detailed understanding, the current review aimed to collect valuable references to describe the mechanism of action of spore-forming probiotics and their effect on all the key aspects of poultry production.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2016

One of the most powerful health management practices is the use of antibiotics, but their use is being restricted because of health safety issues. The swine industry has been looking for various alternatives to antibiotics and increasingly considers the use of dietary factors like feed ingredients, feed additives, feed formulation practices, or feeding methods, instead of using antibiotics to improve pig health and performance. Among other alternatives to antibiotics, spray-dried plasma may be a candidate. Spray-dried plasma is a blood product that provides bioavailable nutrients and physiologically active components such as immunoglobulins, glycoproteins, growth factors, peptides, etc. It is an excellent protein source with balanced and highly digestible amino acids. Several beneficial physiological activities depend on components of spray-dried plasma, such as immune competence (antibacterial activity), modulation of microbiota and/or immune system, integrity of intestinal barrier function, etc. These beneficial effects can contribute to improvement of pig performance and health by modulation of microbiota in the digestive tract and/or immune system. Therefore, it is suggested that spray-dried plasma has great potential as an antibiotics alternative.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1109-1120
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• 2022

Antibiotics used to be supplemented to animal feeds as growth promoter and as an effective strategy to reduce the burden of pathogenic bacteria present in the gastro-intestinal tract. However, in-feed antibiotics also kill bacteria that may be beneficial to the animal. Secondly, unrestricted use of antibiotics enhanced the antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria. To overcome above problems, scientists are taking a great deal of measures to develop alternatives of antibiotics. There is convincing evidence that probiotics could replace in-feed antibiotics in poultry production. Because they have beneficial effects on growth performance, meat quality, bone health and eggshell quality in poultry. Better immune responses, healthier intestinal microflora and morphology which help the birds to resist against disease attack were also identified with the supplementation of probiotics. Probiotics establish cross-feeding between different bacterial strains of gut ecosystem and reduce the blood cholesterol level via bile salt hydrolase activity. The action mode of probiotics was also updated according to recently published literatures, i.e antimicrobial substances generation or toxin reduction. This comprehensive review of probiotics is aimed to highlight the beneficial effects of probiotics as a potential alternative strategy to replace the antibiotics in poultry.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.113-122
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with Lactobacillus, medicinal plant extracts, and plant extracts on growth performance, cecal microflora, relative organ weight, and lymphocyte profile in broiler chickens. One hundred broilers (5 wk old) were used and divided into five (treatment) ${\times}$ two (challenged Salmonella) groups containing 10 broilers. The treatments were as follows: no antibiotics group (NC), antibiotics group (PC), 0.1% lactic acid bacteria group (LB), 100 ppm medicinal plant extract group (MPE), and 100 ppm herb extract group (HE). A basal diet was formulated as 3,100 kcal/kg ME and 20% CP based on corn and soybean meal. Broilers were fed with the experimental diets with no challenge for 1 wk and with challenge of SG for 2 wk. SG were added in water as $1.0{\times}10^6cfu/L$. Final body weight and weight gain were significantly decreased following challenge with SG (P<0.05). However, with the addition of antibiotic alternatives, growth performance was improved and reduction of performance following challenge with SG was lowed compared with that of the NC treatment (P<0.05). Coliform bacteria and Salmonella but not lactic acid bacteria increased with the addition of antibiotic alternatives (P<0.05). Lactobacillus increased significantly with the addition of lactic acid bacteria compared with the NC and PC treatments (P<0.05). The weight of liver, spleen, and bursa of Fabricius increased with addition of antibiotic alternatives (P<0.05). WBC was highly reduced at 4 days after challenge with SG, but was normally maintained thereafter. There was no significant difference in coliform bacteria, Salmonella, organ weights, or WBC with the addition of antibiotic alternatives. Finally, Lactobacillus, medicinal plant extract, and herb extract can be used as antibiotic alternatives; but one alternative completely can't alternate as antibiotics. Therefore, further studies are needed to investigate the synergistic effects of two or more antibiotic alternatives.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.131-148
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• 2010

Piglet health at weaning is compromised due to several stress factors. Following the ban of antibiotic growth promoters new alternatives are required to control these problems. This paper reviews the evidence available for the use of spray dried animal plasma (SDAP) as an alternative to antibiotics in weaning pigs. Data from 75 trials in 43 publications involving over 12,000 piglets (mean values) have been used to calculate the performance responses of piglets according to several factors including SDAP origin, protein source from the control diet being replaced, dose of inclusion, age and weight of the piglets at weaning, sanitary conditions and simultaneous use or not of medication. Although the use of SDAP of all origins results in positive responses, it appears that plasma from porcine origin has the highest efficacy. This could be explained by the specificity of its IgG against porcine pathogens. During the first week post-weaning the response to plasma appears to increase with the inclusion dose, although over the two-week pre-starter period an optimal inclusion level of 4-8% is suggested. SDAP improves feed efficiency more markedly when the piglets are challenged with an experimental infection or when feed does not contain medication, which could be indicative of a lower expenditure of energy and nutrients to build an immune response against the challenge. There is evidence supporting that SDAP IgG and other bioactive substances therein prevent the binding of pathogens to the gut wall and reduce the incidence of diarrhoea in the post-weaning phase. Overall, plasma can be postulated as an excellent alternative to in-feed antimicrobials for piglets in the post-weaning phase.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.223-229
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the supplementation of antibiotics on meat quality grade of broiler carcasses under the Korean meat grading system. A total of 34,000 broiler carcasses, which were randomly selected 100 broilers from each farm in 340 broiler farms (305 farms with antibiotics; 35 farms without antibiotics), were used in this study. Average daily weight gain of broilers was not significantly affected by the use of antibiotics. The ratio of quality grade A was higher in the broiler carcasses from the farms with antibiotics supplementation (78.87%) than those without antibiotics (73.46%, P<0.05). The numbers of carcass defects, which are down-grade factors of meat grading system, were much higher in the broiler carcasses produced from the farms without antibiotics supplementation when compared with those with antibiotics. In particular, the incidence of the carcass defect on conformation was approximately 1.8 times higher in the carcasses from the farms without antibiotics supplementation than those with antibiotics, which showed the highest negative correlation with quality grade A. Therefore, the improvement of farm management system, the use of antibiotics alternatives from natural products, and a proper incentive should be considered in various ways to encourage farmers to reduce antibiotics usage in their farm and earn consumers' trust for antibiotics-free products.