Probiotics, not antibiotics, might be the future of livestock farming
SalonLivestock farmers are always looking for ways to keep their animals healthy and help them grow bigger and faster to meet demand. As a result, many livestock farmers turned to probiotics to supplement their animals’ diets, but they still use antibiotics in large amounts. Barba-Vidal and his colleagues found that farmers were applying probiotics throughout the animals’ life cycles, which may be a key reason why probiotic application had shown such mixed results for farmers. Animal nutrition expert Angel Anguilar has echoed this view, advising cattle farmers who want to use probiotics to be very aware of what kind they’re using and whether they are designed to address the farmer’s specific goal, whether it is improving herd health or growing larger animals. Anything that could help farmers transition away from antibiotics would be a win-win situation for humans and animals alike, and probiotics, if better understood and applied properly, may be able to do just that.
History of this topic
Hyderabad: Researchers look at effects of vaccination in chicken
Deccan Chronicle
Bacteria in probiotics can evolve in your gut and turn nasty, study shows
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