Withdrawal of antibiotic growth promoters from broiler diets: performance indexes and economic impact

This study aimed to estimate the productive and economic impacts caused by the withdrawal of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) from broilers diet. Indexed publications that compared diets with or without AGP (AGP+/AGP−) for broilers (from initial to final phase) were collected and the results of feed intake, weight gain, and feed conversion were compiled in a database. A meta-analysis was performed following sequential analyses: graphical approach (to observe biological data coherence), correlation (to identify related factors), and variance-covariance (to compare groups). The annual number of broiler slaughtered in Brazil, target weight gain and feed conversion for each phase, the variation in feed conversion, feed cost, and AGP costs were used to build a model to estimate the effects of the AGP withdrawal on feeding costs. The database comprised 174 scientific articles containing 183 experiments, totaling 121,643 broilers, most of which were Ross (52% of the studies). The most frequent AGP sources/forms in the database were Avilamycin (41% of the AGP+ treatments), Flavomycin (19%), Virginiamycin (16%), and Bacitracin (14%). Higher feed intake, weight gain, and lower feed conversion were attributed (P < 0.05) to AGP+ diets during Initial phase (1 to 21 D). In Final phase (22 to 42 D) no differences were observed in performance variables. Treatments AGP+ presented higher weight gain and better feed conversion in the Total period (1 to 42 D). The results of feed conversion were improved (P < 0.05) with Avilamycin and Flavomycin; Virginiamycin improved weight gain and feed conversion. In the Total period, the economic impact was $0.03 per animal and a total of $183,560,232 per year. It was concluded that broilers fed AGP+ diets have higher weight gain and better feed conversion than those fed AGP− diets, and withdrawing AGP increases production costs.