Herbanoplex CP ®: a unique pathosupressor phytocompound for preventing necrotic enteritis

Antibiotic free poultry production can be realized with the application of alternative gut health stabilizers. For gut stabilization, different feed additives are applied during poultry rearing:

• organic acids are the most commonly used additives for gut stabilization in the broilers diet, with well-defined antimicrobial activities and also a pH reducing ability,
• trace elements and minerals can also be used, which possess antibacterial activities and can improve the immune status of the birds resulting in higher feed conversions,
• probiotics can be added to the diet, which help in establishing a normal flora,
• prebiotics can be used, which enhance the growth of the normal microbiome,
• synbiotics can be applied, which are a combination of probiotics and prebiotics,
• phytocompounds can be implemented into the broilers diet, which possess antimicrobial activities, meaning that in case of all phytocompounds, minimal inhibition concentrations (MICs) and killing dosages (CIDs) can be defined.

All the above mentioned feed additive categories have important place in the broiler industry. In many cases they are used in combinations, taking advantage of the attributes of each group. For example, in the case of synbiotics, these compounds can increase the individually obtained beneficial effect of both probiotics and prebiotics. However, phytocompounds seem to be the sole feed additive category that may reduce the use of antibiotics if their inclusion in the broiler’s diet becomes more widespread. This also means that phytocompounds alone or in combination with other feed additives represent true alternatives to antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in both animal husbandry and human healthcare. Therefore, governments – with subsidies and/or prohibitions – are calling for a reduction in antibiotic use. Most recent studies show a strong correlation between the antibiotic load in animal husbandry and the human antibiotic usage: namely reducing the antibiotic usage in animal husbandry also results in reduced human antibiotic applications.