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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 3/11/2013 Publication Date: 4/11/2013 Citation: Lillehoj, H.S. 2013. Coccidiosis in poultry – new trends for control. Meeting Abstract. P4. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: By 2050, the population is expected to increase to more than nine billion people; as a result of this anticipated growth, the demand for high protein poultry meat products is expected to increase anywhere from 70 to 100%. Therefore, poultry sectors including industry, government, and academia are confronted with a new array of challenges, such as global food security, climate change, emerging infectious diseases, regulatory ban of antimicrobials, high-intensity production conditions, and waste management. Furthermore, agricultural animal scientists need to consider addressing these challenges using modern research tools and should develop sustainable agricultural management systems which will be compatible with environmental and consumers’ needs. Although the rapid progress in the poultry production system that we witnessed during the last half century was partly due to the use of antibiotics growth promoters (AGPs), frequent sub-therapeutic use of AGPs in agriculture has raised many concerns with respect to human health due to the potential occurrence of resistance among pathogenic bacteria and parasites. Accordingly, scientific evidence-based publications are supporting the possibility of sustaining intensive modern farming without the use of AGPs, especially in the area of disease control. These drug-free biocontrol approaches for reducing bacterial, viral and parasitic pathogens in food animal production may include innate immune molecules with anti-microbial function such as antimicrobial peptides, defensins, bacteriophages, bacteriophage lysins, or other naturally occurring antibacterial lytic enzymes, such as bacteriocins, recombinant or hyperimmune therapeutic antibodies, pre- and probiotics, bioactive phytochemicals (herbal extracts and volatile oils), or other anti-virulence biotherapeutic alternatives. In this regard, as shown in our recent studies, the dietary immunomodulation of gut immunity in broiler chickens using natural dietary supplements, such as toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands, direct-fed microbials (DFMs) and plant-derived phytochemicals that interact with innate sensing molecules to stimulate innate immunity, is a promising alternative strategy that can be applied to many infectious diseases besides coccidiosis where traditional prevention methods show limitations. Furthermore, the underlying immune mechanisms involved in various dietary strategies using TLR ligand-, DFM- and plant phytochemical-mediated immune enhancement of innate immunity should be investigated in order to maximize its effect and to develop a rational synergistic approach for disease control. This presentation will review recent progress in developing alternative strategies against enteric protozoan parasites causing coccidiosis. |
