Application of Antibiotic Alternatives in the Poultry Industry

Dear Colleagues, 

Poultry farming has been commercially expanded and become an important economic business in many countries around the world in the last few decades. In-feed antibiotics have been used to enhance performance, improve gut health, reduce sub-clinical infection, anti-inflammatory, control diseases, and support intestinal health in chickens by inhibiting proliferation of pathogenic bacteria. Nevertheless, due to concerns around bacterial resistance and residues in animal products, the use of in-feed antibiotics has been banned, prompting the global poultry industry to look for antibiotic alternatives to enhance the health, welfare, and performance of chickens. Indeed, scientists have proposed various promising alternatives to animal production to mimic antibiotic growth promoters, and many have been successfully applied in the poultry industry. These include prebiotics, probiotics, organic acids, essential oils, exogenous enzyme, hyper-immune IgY antibodies, bacteriophages, antimicrobial peptides, and phytogenic feed additives, which are now being used commercially.

This Topical Collection aims to gather original research articles including reviews investigating conventional and novel feed additives to improve the welfare and health of chickens.

Prof. Dr. Kyung-Woo Lee
Collection Editor

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