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last update:May 23, 2007
Herbal therapy for pigs
Natural alternatives to growth-promoting antibiotics
in livestock feed may soon be on the menu for pigs in Europe, thanks to research
conducted by REPLACE, an EU-funded project.
Although antibiotics were never used to the same extent in Europe as in the
US, the ban has had a varying impact on livestock production, says John Wallace
of the Rowett Research Institute in the UK, coordinator of the REPLACE project
(replacing antibiotics).
Dr Wallace believes that the removal of growth-promoting antibiotics has
placed some livestock producers in Europe at a competitive disadvantage, since
other countries such as the US have no restrictions on their use.
So, what is the alternative? Funded under the 'Food quality and safety'
programme of the
Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), REPLACE is looking into the
use of plants such as herbs, plant extracts including essential oils and other
materials as safe alternatives to these feed antimicrobials.
All of the samples are of plants or extracts that are either indigenous to
Europe or that can be grown here.
The candidates selected by the project come from some 500 samples of plant
material collected during the Rumen-up project in FP5, to decrease methane and
nitrogenous emissions from ruminants and to alleviate nutritional stress.
'Methane is not only bad for the environment, it is also bad for the animals to
be losing an important source of energy,' Wallace explained.
In FP6, the samples were tested this time for use on pigs for their
potential to control infections from and immunity to E. coli and other
parasites, as well as for their impact on food safety and feed efficiency.
Three promising plants
The project consortium has identified three promising
candidates for which it is filing patent applications. One candidate, which has
been used in traditional herbal medicine, was found to be particularly effective
in the control of diarrhoea among piglets.
Dr Wallace believes that the three candidates are commercially viable.
'First though, we will have to prove their efficiency and safety,' he
noted.
The consortium is currently at the stage of drawing up candidate field
trials and figuring best way to spend the remaining money to prove the
efficiency of these candidates. Trials are expected to start in the coming
months.
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