With antibiotics, deciding when to use them is as essential as determining how much.
SOUND SCIENCE: Removal or reduction of ionophores for the control of coccidiosis in poultry could lead to increased antibiotic use, higher production costs and negative impacts on climate-change mitigation efforts.
Nearly 6 in 10 broiler chickens in the US are now raised without antibiotics. Is this all-or-nothing strategy necessarily a good trend? And what precautions need to be taken?
Nearly six in 10 US broilers were raised without antibiotics of any type in 2019 — but that number may have peaked.
Selecting birds that are naturally more resistant to disease could help the poultry industry reduce antibiotics use in the future, say researchers.
