Effect of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler chickens: A meta-analysis

Antibiotics have been used for a long time as growth promoters in the poultry industry for growth and health benefits. However, recent studies reflected little, no, or negative impacts of using antibiotics for growth promotion purposes. This study was designed to examine the overall effect of antibi...

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Main Authors: Mohamed El-Fateh, Muhammad Bilal, Xin Zhao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Poultry Science
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579124010502
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author Mohamed El-Fateh
Muhammad Bilal
Xin Zhao
author_facet Mohamed El-Fateh
Muhammad Bilal
Xin Zhao
author_sort Mohamed El-Fateh
collection DOAJ
description Antibiotics have been used for a long time as growth promoters in the poultry industry for growth and health benefits. However, recent studies reflected little, no, or negative impacts of using antibiotics for growth promotion purposes. This study was designed to examine the overall effect of antibiotic supplementation on the feed conversion ratio (FCR) in broiler chickens as a performance indicator and assess different covariates for explaining heterogeneity in response to the use of antibiotics as growth promoters. In this regard, FCRs obtained from articles that compared diets with and without antibiotics for broiler chickens were extracted from electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) as per PRISMA guidelines. The database comprised 42 scientific articles containing 74 experiments totaling 19,562 chickens. A basic meta-analysis and subgroup analysis were performed to assess the overall impact of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on FCR of broiler chickens while a meta-regression analysis was used to assess different covariates (breed, antibiotic dose, location, time, presence of anticoccidial in the feed, antibiotic type, and housing type) to explain variations in true effect size of the studies. The basic meta-analysis of these studies revealed an overall improvement in FCR by 2.8 % (p < 0.05) due to addition of AGPs than the control group with the confidence interval range from 1.3 to 4.3 % and the prediction interval ranging between -10 and 16 %. The covariates, including breed, dose and location, provided the optimum model fit and explained 53 % of variations in the FCR across different studies. In summary, an overall marginal improvement has been observed in mean FCR of broiler chickens along with a wide range of variations in response to use of AGPs. The variations in true effects among these studies are subject to several confounding effects, particularly breed, dose and location. Considering the marginal positive effect of antibiotic usage in chicken performance, we recommend against using of AGP.
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spelling doaj-art-b4c352a90fbf4811a9dffe04afeaa6082024-12-14T06:29:22ZengElsevierPoultry Science0032-57912024-12-0110312104472Effect of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler chickens: A meta-analysisMohamed El-Fateh0Muhammad Bilal1Xin Zhao2Department of Animal Science, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada, H9×3V9; Department of Hygiene and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, 35516, El-Dakhelia, EgyptDepartment of Animal Science, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada, H9×3V9Department of Animal Science, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada, H9×3V9; Corresponding author at: Department of Animal Science, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada, H9×3V9Antibiotics have been used for a long time as growth promoters in the poultry industry for growth and health benefits. However, recent studies reflected little, no, or negative impacts of using antibiotics for growth promotion purposes. This study was designed to examine the overall effect of antibiotic supplementation on the feed conversion ratio (FCR) in broiler chickens as a performance indicator and assess different covariates for explaining heterogeneity in response to the use of antibiotics as growth promoters. In this regard, FCRs obtained from articles that compared diets with and without antibiotics for broiler chickens were extracted from electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) as per PRISMA guidelines. The database comprised 42 scientific articles containing 74 experiments totaling 19,562 chickens. A basic meta-analysis and subgroup analysis were performed to assess the overall impact of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on FCR of broiler chickens while a meta-regression analysis was used to assess different covariates (breed, antibiotic dose, location, time, presence of anticoccidial in the feed, antibiotic type, and housing type) to explain variations in true effect size of the studies. The basic meta-analysis of these studies revealed an overall improvement in FCR by 2.8 % (p < 0.05) due to addition of AGPs than the control group with the confidence interval range from 1.3 to 4.3 % and the prediction interval ranging between -10 and 16 %. The covariates, including breed, dose and location, provided the optimum model fit and explained 53 % of variations in the FCR across different studies. In summary, an overall marginal improvement has been observed in mean FCR of broiler chickens along with a wide range of variations in response to use of AGPs. The variations in true effects among these studies are subject to several confounding effects, particularly breed, dose and location. Considering the marginal positive effect of antibiotic usage in chicken performance, we recommend against using of AGP.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579124010502Meta-analysisMeta-regression analysisBroiler chickenAntibioticFeed conversion ratio (FCR)
spellingShingle Mohamed El-Fateh
Muhammad Bilal
Xin Zhao
Effect of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler chickens: A meta-analysis
Poultry Science
Meta-analysis
Meta-regression analysis
Broiler chicken
Antibiotic
Feed conversion ratio (FCR)
title Effect of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler chickens: A meta-analysis
title_full Effect of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler chickens: A meta-analysis
title_fullStr Effect of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler chickens: A meta-analysis
title_full_unstemmed Effect of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler chickens: A meta-analysis
title_short Effect of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) on feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broiler chickens: A meta-analysis
title_sort effect of antibiotic growth promoters agps on feed conversion ratio fcr of broiler chickens a meta analysis
topic Meta-analysis
Meta-regression analysis
Broiler chicken
Antibiotic
Feed conversion ratio (FCR)
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579124010502
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