Causes, mechanisms of development and manifestations of antibiotic resistance in poultry farming, consequences and methods of overcoming (review)

According to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2020, world poultry meat production reached 133.3 million tons. Poultry farming, one of the largest, highest intensity and fastest growing branches of agriculture, is a segment that actively uses feed antibiotics for therapy and as growth stimulants. As feed additives, antibiotics are used in sub-inhibitory doses to improve productivity, feed conversion efficiency and infection prevention. In the case of intensification of production, as well as excessive and improper use of antibiotic agents, there is a risk of the formation of antibiotic resistance, posing a potential threat to global health. Thus, the purpose of the review was to study modern approaches to preventing antibiotic resistance and to consider relevant alternatives with antibiotic properties such as growth stimulants of broiler chickens. In the conditions of proliferated antimicrobial resistance, modern multifunctional biostimulants of growth (organic acids, phytobiotics, probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, bacteriophages, enzymes, antimicrobial peptides, hyperimmune egg antibodies) within the framework of scientifically based recommendations, can act as an alternative to antibiotics, since they have such advantages as specificity and biosafety. The use of alternative substances with antibacterial properties opens a new chapter in the study of the effects of antibiotic-free feeds, which will allow us to get away from traditional algorithms for antibiotic use in agriculture. However, there are significant gaps in the evaluation and practical application of complex growth stimulants based on various classes of biological substances. Furthermore, it takes time to introduce such a strategy into public practice on an industrial scale. The analysis of the accumulated data allows us to conclude that considering the versatile aspect of the effect on the body systems of broiler chickens, a detailed and in-depth study of biostimulators of growth as components of feed additives on the poultry body with the identification of correlation and synergistic effects is a promising field.