| Resumo: |
Over the past 50 years, there has been increasing amounts of antibiotics used prophylactically and as growth promoters. Today, there is a consumer and governmental outcry to eliminate that practice from poultry and livestock production. Evidence has been accumulated to show that there is a link between risk of zoonotic disease and growth promoting antibiotic usage in livestock and poultry. Therefore, alternatives to the use of growth promoting antibiotics must be found to promote growth or production at or near the genetic potential of the modern day broiler, turkey, and egg producer. The use of probiotics has many potential benefits and include modified host metabolism, immuno-stimulation, anti-inflammatory reactions, exclusion and killing of pathogens in the intestinal tract, reduced bacterial contamination on processed broiler carcasses, enhanced nutrient absorption and performance, and ultimately decreased human health risk. The development of these factors generally can be ascribed to the ability of most probiotic products to balance and maintain the intestinal microflora in poultry species.
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