Animal husbandry is in need for natural effective solutions that can replace antibiotics, particularly antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs), and maintain production performance. In this sense, pronutrients are a good tool that meets all the requirements to become an exceptional solution for an antibiotic-free production.
Veterinarian
Biovet S.A. Laboratories
In the last decades, there has been a trend to reduce and limit the use of antibiotic additives in animal production due to their consequences, which are related to the development of resistant bacteria and the presence of residues in animal products that threaten animal welfare and human safety.
Animal husbandry is in need for natural effective solutions that can replace antibiotics, particularly antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs), and maintain production performance. In this sense, pronutrients are a good tool that meets all the requirements to become an exceptional solution for an antibiotic-free production.
Why are antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) used?
Intensification of poultry farming is a phenomenon that occurs worldwide and implies the use of highly productive genetic lines to save time and space, as they have much higher production and growing rates and are raised in high densities.
These, together with the use of commercial diets that do not include pronutrients, led to the weakening of the organs, making animals prone to suffer diseases.
To prevent diseases that take advantage of weaker animals, products such as AGPs were included in the diets to reduce the load of microorganisms in the digestive system and, therefore, reduce the probability to suffer infections.
Pronutrients are natural solutions to replace conventional products
If you are thinking of replacing antibiotics or other traditional products and are looking for a natural alternative, your choice must have the following features:
• Tested efficacy: use products with an extensive field experience that have been tested under different conditions.
• Chemically defined extracts: it is just as important to use products with standardized concentrations of active molecules to make sure their effect does not vary with time.
• Known mechanism of action: the understanding of the way they work is the only way to associate the right indications with each product.
Pronutrients meet all these requirements, as they are specific molecules from plant extracts that physiologically optimize the functioning of the organs and, this way, increase animals’ natural resistance against infections and improve productive performance. When animals are in the nature, they instinctively eat the plants containing pronutrients, but they cannot obtain them in the farm, unless we include them in the feed.
How do pronutrients work?
Pronutrients are active molecules present in different plants that stimulate cell functioning. The type of pronutrients effective to replace antibiotic growth promoters are called intestinal conditioners and target the enterocytes (cells of the gut mucosa).
Intestinal conditioners stimulate the expression of specific genes in their DNA. This leads to a greater synthesis of specific proteins that optimize activity of the intestinal mucosa. This mechanism of action was studied using cutting-edge genetic and molecular techniques.
When added to the feed or water in low amounts, these pronutrients enhance the regeneration and activity of the gut mucosa: there is greater nutrient absorption surface and cells are newer and more resistant to infections. The positive effect can be observed microscopically and macroscopically (images 1 and 2).
These pronutrients increase gut efficiency. In farms using pronutrients, it can be observed:
• Better growth rates
• Better feed utilization, improvement of the feed conversion rate (less feed in necessary to gain one kg of weight).
• Better carcass quality
• Better intestinal health: pronutrients improve the natural resistance of animals against digestive infections indirectly, by enhancing cells’ natural strength. This way, AGPs to reduce bacterial loads are not necessary anymore.
The efficacy of these pronutrients has been widely proven in multiple trials following the scientific method in farms from all around the world with different species (poultry, pigs, aquaculture).
The following charts summarize results obtained in a commercial broiler farm where AGPs were replaced by intestinal conditioning pronutrients. They prove that AGPs can be completely withdrawn thanks to using pronutrients, as they can reach better performance results: in this farm, one million broilers with pronutrients would produce 370 more tons of meat and save 374 tons of feed.
In layers and breeders, intestinal conditioners also help to improve the laying rate (+6%), egg internal quality (+8.4%) and egg weight (+5.2 g).
In conclusion
The intensification of animal husbandry led to using commercial diets that do not include molecules of botanical origin that are necessary for the proper functioning of the organs. For this reason, substances such antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) were included in the diets to maintain digestive health. The use of these products, though, led to the development of microbial resistances and there is a need to withdraw them from feed.
Reconnecting with nature is the best way to maintain performance and animal health without AGPs: pronutrients are molecules from plant extracts that recover animal’s natural strength and improve productive performance.
Intestinal conditioner pronutrients are the ones that improve the status of the gut mucosa, and therefore have a positive effect on growth rate, feed conversion, the laying rate, and egg quality. Besides, they are a broadly studied natural tool effective to improve performance without resistances, residues, and withdrawal periods.
The use of these molecules was studied and developed by Biovet S.A. and are marketed under the name Alquernat Nebsui.
