Building Resilient Animals: Gut Health, the Microbiome, and Responsible Antimicrobial Use
A Special Issue of Veterinary Sciences (ISSN 2306-7381) belonging to the section "Veterinary Microbiology, Parasitology and Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 12 May 2027 | Viewed by 23
Editors
Interests: feed additives; nutritional physiology; microbiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The increasing global concern surrounding antimicrobial resistance has highlighted the urgent need for innovative approaches that improve animal health while reducing reliance on antimicrobial drugs. Rather than focusing solely on antimicrobial resistance as an isolated problem, contemporary veterinary science increasingly recognizes that animal resilience, intestinal health, microbial ecology, nutrition, and management practices collectively determine disease susceptibility and antimicrobial use.
Over the last two decades, advances in microbiome research, systems biology, immunometabolism, and precision livestock production have transformed our understanding of host health. The gastrointestinal microbiome is now recognized as a fundamental regulator of immune development, nutrient utilization, metabolic efficiency, intestinal integrity, and resistance to infectious diseases. These discoveries have created unprecedented opportunities to develop sustainable strategies that improve animal performance while supporting responsible antimicrobial stewardship.
This Special Issue aims to present recent advances that integrate gut health, microbiome science, host resilience, and responsible antimicrobial use across veterinary medicine and animal production systems. Original research articles, reviews, communications, and perspectives are welcome.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Gut health and intestinal integrity;
- Animal resilience and disease tolerance;
- The gastrointestinal microbiome;
- Host–microbiome interactions;
- Alternatives to antimicrobial use;
- Antimicrobial stewardship;
- Antimicrobial resistance;
- Precision livestock production;
- Nutrition and functional feed additives;
- Probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics;
- Competitive exclusion technologies;
- Bacteriophage therapy;
- Immunometabolism;
- Precision nutrition;
- Molecular epidemiology;
- Metagenomics and multi-omics;
- One Health approaches;
- Sustainable animal production;
- Food safety and public health.
We look forward to receiving high-quality contributions that advance our understanding of how integrated approaches to gut health and microbial ecology can build healthier, more resilient animals while supporting the responsible use of antimicrobials.
Prof. Dr. Guillermo Tellez-Isaias
Dr. Yordan Martínez Aguilar
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. Veterinary Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2100 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.
Keywords
- gut health
- microbiome
- antimicrobial resistance
- antimicrobial stewardship
- animal resilience
- probiotics
- prebiotics
- postbiotics
- competitive exclusion
- bacteriophages
- immunometabolism
- intestinal health
- host–microbiome interactions
- one health
- livestock production
- poultry
- swine
- cattle
- aquaculture
- veterinary medicine
- precision livestock farming
- metagenomics
- sustainable animal production
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
