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A comprehensive review on natural phenolic compounds as alternatives to in-feed antibiotics

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Abstract

Intensive livestock and poultry farming in China largely relied on the use of in-feed antibiotics until July 2020. The consequences of antibiotic overuse in animal feed include accumulation in animal products and the development of bacterial antibiotic resistance, both of which threaten food safety and human health. China has now completely banned the circulation of commercial feed containing growth-promoting drug additives (except Chinese herbal medicine). Therefore, alternatives to in-feed antibiotics in animal production are greatly needed. Natural phenolic compounds (NPCs) exist widely in plants and are non-toxic, non-polluting, highly reproducible, and leave little residue. Many natural flavonoids, phenolic acids, lignans, and stilbenes have polyphenol chemical structures and exhibit great potential as alternatives to antibiotics. In this review we delineate the characteristics of plant-derived NPCs and summarize their current applications as alternatives to in-feed antibiotics, aiming to provide new strategies for antibiotic-free feeding and promote the development of more sustainable animal husbandry practices.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFD1300403), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32130099), the “Shen Nong Scholar Funding of Hunan Agricultural University”, the “Changsha Municipal Natural Science Foundation (kq2014068)”, the “Hunan Natural Science Foundation (2021JJ40233)”, the “Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (2021RC3090)”, the “Open Project Program of Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China”, the “Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-35)”, and the “China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA”. Our profound admiration and respect go to researchers in this field and our colleagues, for their dedication and hard work. We apologize to scientists whose work is in this field if their papers are not cited owing to space limitations. We would like to thank Dr. Joseph Elliot at the University of Kansas for his assistance with English language and grammatical editing of the manuscript.

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  1. Animal Nutritional Genome and Germplasm Innovation Research Center, College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, China

    Jingxia Gao, Zhe Yang, Chongqi Zhao, Xiongzhuo Tang, Qian Jiang & Yulong Yin

  2. Laboratory of Animal Nutritional Physiology and Metabolic Process, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, 410125, China

    Jingxia Gao, Qian Jiang & Yulong Yin

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  1. Jingxia Gao
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Gao, J., Yang, Z., Zhao, C. et al. A comprehensive review on natural phenolic compounds as alternatives to in-feed antibiotics. Sci. China Life Sci. 66, 1518–1534 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-022-2246-4

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