Natural Compounds and Additives in Veterinary Science: Drawbacks and Advantages

Dear Colleagues,

The identification of natural substances that can displace the use of synthetic substances is becoming more and more central in many areas of veterinary science. Indeed, in the animal production sector, natural compounds have the potential to meet increasing consumer demands for safe, healthy, and sustainable foods of animal origin as well as to address concerns about the development and diffusion of antimicrobial resistance, which is leading to the reduced  use of antibiotics in industrial animal farms. Moreover, due to the increasing humanization of companion animals, pet owners desire to provide their pets with human-like products, experiences, and care, showing high compliance with the use of natural and sustainable products in supporting the health and wellbeing of their pets.

However, natural compounds exhibiting potential beneficial properties may require high dosages or produce toxicity and significant adverse effects in animals, and these effects are potentially different from those that occur in humans.

Taking all of these aspects and the importance of sharing knowledge about this unexplored field into account, this Special Issue aims to accommodate original research about compounds of natural origin that can be used in all veterinary sectors, from intensive farming to companion animal care, while paying great attention to the identification and characterization of the efficacy and safety of new molecules or molecular complexes.

Studies about the use of additives or other ingredients in feed or food of animal origin are welcome as well. Reviews will be considered as long as they are mainly focused on veterinary aspects.

Dr. Alessandro Di Cerbo
Dr. Claudia Zizzadoro
Dr. Nicola Pugliese
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.