The Role of Probiotics in Animal Health

Dear Colleagues,

Probiotics are live microorganisms considered a safe and effective measure to promote animal health when administered in adequate amounts. Probiotics are used as a feed additive to improve intestinal microbial balance. The benefits include the reduction in infection risks, improvement of growth performance, feed utilization, and stress response in animals. It can also be used as an alternative to prophylactic use of antibiotics; therefore, it is important when facing the challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

Probiotics include various bacterial species, bacteriophages, microalgae, and yeasts, and can be used in terrestrial animals and aquaculture. Commercially available feed additives may contain mono or multi-strains and work through bactericidal and bacteriostatic mechanisms. Bactericidal action is responsible for the direct inactivation of pathogens in the gut with the help of bacteriocins, hydrogen peroxide, and organic acids, while competition for nutrients, adhesion sites, and changes in environmental conditions may lead to a bacteriostatic effect.

The use of probiotics may also face several challenges. The selection of suitable microorganisms or their combinations, the amount of viable cells, their survivability, and the application type for various animal species, taking into account age and physiological state, must be considered.

This Special Issue welcomes original articles on studies of microorganisms known as probiotics and their usage in animal health promotion.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Potential new probiotic species and their safety concerns; Molecular methods as a way to characterize the mechanism of action and choose suitable formulations of probiotic strains; Probiotics as a disease control measure in animal life; Probiotics as a means to control antimicrobial resistance; Efficiency related to application method and the fate of probiotics in the gastrointestinal tract.

Dr. Jose Manuel Silvan
Guest Editor

Dr. Gintare Zakariene
Guest Editor Assistant

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