Antibiotics in livestock farming: Searching for alternatives [08.07.20]
For years, the use of antibiotics in livestock farming has been subject to critical discussion. On one hand, bacterial infections in livestock farms must be controlled. On the other hand, this promotes the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which has serious consequences for both humans and animals. Thus, the need for antibacterial alternatives replacing conventional antibiotics is huge. A current paper jointly published with Hohenheim scientists focus on this issue. In their study, the antibiotic burden of poultry samples from Germany, Poland & Lithuania was investigated. Out of 14 poultry samples tested, antibiotics could be detected in 3 samples but with concentrations significantly below the treshold allowed. In addition, various antibiotic alternatives were tested for their effectiveness against Salmonella. In that regard, a mixture of thyme and oregano oils as well as various strains of lactobacilli showed promising results.
Picture cretid: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/hühner-versammlung-geflügel-4351587/
Publication
Bartkiene, E., Ruzauskas, M., Bartkevics, V., Pugajeva, I., Zavistanaviciute, P., Starkute, V., Zokaityte, E., Lele, V., Dauksiene, A., Grashorn, M., Hoelzle, L.E., Mendybayeva, A., Ryshyanova, R., Gruzauskas, R., 2020. Study of the antibiotic residues in poultry meat in some of the EU countries and selection of the best compositions of lactic acid bacteria and essential oils against Salmonella enterica. Poultry Science. doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2020.05.002
Affiliations
- Institute of Animal Rearing Technologies, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 47181, Kaunas, Lithuania
- Department of Food Safety and Quality, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 47181, Kaunas, Lithuania
- Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 47181, Kaunas, Lithuania
- Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 47181, Kaunas, Lithuania
- Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment BIOR, 1076 Riga, Latvia
- Institute of Animal Science at University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
- Research Institute of Applied Biotechnology, Kostanay State University, 110000 Kostanay, Kazakhstan
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Kaunas University of Technology, 50254, Kaunas, Lithuania
Abstract
In this study, the presence of antibiotics (ANB) residues was evaluated in poultry meat purchased from German and Lithuanian markets. In addition, the antimicrobial activity of 13 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains, 2 essential oils (EO) (Thymus vulgaris and Origanum vulgare L.), and their compositions were tested for the purpose of inhibiting antibiotic-resistant Salmonella spp. ANB residues were found in 3 out of the 20 analyzed poultry meat samples: sample no. 8 contained enrofloxacin (0.46 μg/kg), sample no. 14 contained both enrofloxacin and doxycycline (0.05 and 16.8 μg/kg, respectively), and sample no. 18 contained enrofloxacin (2.06 μg/kg). The maximum residue limits (MRLs) for the sum of enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin and for doxycycline in the poultry muscle are 100 μg/kg. Finally, none of the tested poultry meat samples exceeded the suggested MRLs; however, the issue of ANB residues still requires monitoring of the poultry industry in Germany, Poland, and Lithuania, despite the currently established low ANB concentrations. These findings can be explained by the increased use of alternatives to ANB in the poultry industry. Our results showed that an effective alternative to ANB, which can help to reduce the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant salmonella, is a composition containing 1.0% of thyme EO and the following LAB strains: Lactobacillus plantrum LUHS122, Enteroccocus pseudoavium LUHS242, Lactobacillus casei LUHS210, Lactobacillus paracasei LUHS244, Lactobacillus plantarumLUHS135, Lactobacillus coryniformins LUHS71, and Lactobacillus uvarum LUHS245, which can be recommended for poultry industry as components of feed or for the treatment of surfaces, to control the contamination with Salmonella strains. However, it should be mentioned that most of the tested LAB strains were inhibited by thyme EO at the concentrations of 0.5 and 1.0%, except for LUHS122, LUHS210, and LUHS245. Finally, it can be noted that the agents responsible for the inhibitory effect on Salmonella are not the viable LAB strains but rather their metabolites, and further studies are needed to identify which metabolites are the most important.
