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Probiotics and Prebiotics for the Health of Pigs and Horses

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Book cover Probiotics and Prebiotics in Animal Health and Food Safety

Abstract

Probiotics and prebiotics are being used for many years as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in pigs and poultry. A lot of research has been performed more on probiotics and much less in prebiotics with the purpose to define their effects on both animals and human and to clear their mechanisms of interactions with the body. This chapter will be focused on the practical applications of probiotics and prebiotics in pigs, with reference to some possible mechanisms.

Intestinal tract and its microbiota, as well as its role in physiology and immunity for pigs, will be reviewed. Probiotics and prebiotics, their mode of action, and legal framework, as well as main probiotic strains, either producing lactic acid or not will be shortly presented. Similarly prebiotics will be defined.

The effect of probiotics, prebiotics, and their combination, synbiotics, will be approached through the main target animal categories, as the performance parameters and diseases in each category differ. Therefore, the results of selected trials and experiments will be presented in sows and their offspring, in weaned (nursery) pigs, and in growing-finishing pigs. In addition, a limited number of available studies for probiotics on horses will be reported as there is no much research on this animal species. Some interesting studies on the efficacy of probiotics to raise systemic immunity and to assist against non-intestinal pathogens will be also given. Finally the view of the use of “dead” probiotics will be discussed, as well as the reasons for the high variability of the results among different animal studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece

    Spyridon K. Kritas D.V.M., M.H.M., Ph.D.

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  1. Spyridon K. Kritas D.V.M., M.H.M., Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Spyridon K. Kritas D.V.M., M.H.M., Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Diana Di Gioia

  2. Division of Rural Sciences & Food System, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    Bruno Biavati

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Kritas, S.K. (2018). Probiotics and Prebiotics for the Health of Pigs and Horses. In: Di Gioia, D., Biavati, B. (eds) Probiotics and Prebiotics in Animal Health and Food Safety. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71950-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71950-4_4

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71948-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71950-4

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