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ciency of animals [3, 8, 9].

**Chapter 12**

**Abstract**

resistance, aflatoxins

**1. Introduction**

*and Guillermo Tellez*

The Use of Probiotics in Poultry

Bacterial Infections and Aflatoxins

*Daniel Hernandez-Patlan, Bruno Solis-Cruz, Billy M. Hargis* 

In intensive poultry production, a large number of antimicrobials are frequently

employed to prevent (prophylactic use) and treat (therapeutic use) diseases, as well as for growth promotion (subtherapeutic use), in order to increase productivity. However, it has been reported that the use of antimicrobials at subtherapeutic doses is closely related to the increase in bacterial resistance and with the treatment failure. In addition to antimicrobial resistance, another problem derived from the use of antimicrobials is the presence of residues in animal products. Therefore, these problems and the ban of antimicrobial as growth promoters have prompted the poultry industry to look for alternatives with similar benefits to antibiotics. Among these alternatives, probiotics are one of the most widely studied and interesting groups. Hence, in the present chapter, the effect of probiotics and direct-fed microbial against foodborne pathogens and mycotoxins will be summarized.

**Keywords:** probiotics, direct-fed microbial, foodborne pathogens, antimicrobial

an unprecedented role in the prevention, control, and treatment of infectious diseases in both humans and animals [1]. However, in animal production, they have also been used at subtherapeutic doses [2]. It is estimated that the global consumption of antibiotics in animal production could increase by 67% in the coming years [3] mainly because of the growing global demand for animal protein [2, 4]. Although it has been reported that in developed countries the total consumption of antibiotics has decreased by around 4%, consumption of antibiotics in the USA increased slightly [5]. Furthermore, it has been reported that the amount of antibiotics used in animal production in the USA is 100–1000 times higher than human medicine, being used ~80–90% at subtherapeutic doses, and for prophylactic

purposes, while the remaining 10–20% at therapeutic doses [6, 7].

Since the discovery and application of penicillin in 1940, antibiotics have played

The inclusion of antibiotics at subtherapeutic doses into the feed was generalized in the early 1950s, both in the EU and the USA since they could be used to prevent diseases and positively influence the promotion of growth and feed effi-

Production for the Control of
