Italian Journal of Animal Science

Reducing Antibiotic Use Through Preventive Strategies in Animal Production

Preventive strategies to reduce antibiotic use in livestock and aquaculture production have become a central priority for both animal health and global public health. Growing concerns about antimicrobial resistance are driving a shift from treatment-based approaches to prevention-oriented systems. This includes advances in nutrition, genetics, health management, biosecurity, and environmental control to enhance animal robustness and reduce disease incidence in both terrestrial and aquatic species. Integrating these strategies is essential to sustain productivity while minimizing antibiotic reliance. This collection aims to highlight innovative and practical solutions supporting responsible, preventive health management across livestock and aquaculture systems.

Reducing antibiotic use in livestock and aquaculture is crucial to limit the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one of the major global health threats affecting both humans and animals. Overreliance on antibiotics in food-producing systems can compromise their effectiveness, making infections harder to treat. At the same time, sustainable animal production must ensure high standards of health, welfare, and productivity. Preventive strategies offer a pathway to achieve these goals by reducing disease pressure and improving resilience. This approach supports safer food systems, protects public health, and aligns with increasing regulatory and societal demands for responsible antimicrobial use in alignment with the One Health principles.

This Article Collection aims to gather the latest scientific evidence on preventive strategies to reduce antibiotic use in livestock and aquaculture systems, covering a wide range of species and production conditions. We seek contributions evaluating nutritional, managerial, genetic, and environmental approaches that enhance animal health and resilience, thereby reducing the need for antimicrobial interventions.

We invite Original Research, Reviews, and Short Communications addressing:

• Nutrition and Functional Feed Additives: Role of diet, amino acids, probiotics, and bioactive compounds.
• Genetics and Breeding: Selection for robustness and disease resistance.
• Housing and Environmental Control: Impact of welfare and rearing conditions.

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Alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This topic strongly supports the following SDGs:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being (Reducing antimicrobial resistance and improving animal and public health)
• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production (Promoting prudent antibiotic use and sustainable livestock and aquaculture practices)
• SDG 13: Climate Action (Enhancing production efficiency and resilience, contributing to lower environmental impact)
• SDG 2: Zero Hunger (Supporting sustainable production of safe and high-quality animal protein)
• SDG 14: Life Below Water (Improving health management in aquaculture and reducing environmental contamination from antimicrobial use)

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Keywords:

1) antibiotic reduction;

2) preventive strategies;

3) livestock production;

4) aquaculture;

5) animal health;

6) biosecurity;

7) nutrition;

8) functional feed additives;

9) genetics;

10) disease resistance;

11) animal welfare;

12) sustainable production;

13) One Health

14) vaccines

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Guest Advisors

Ines Andretta is an animal scientist and professor at the Faculty of Agronomy of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She received her Ph.D. in Animal Science from the Federal University of Santa Maria and has built her career in swine and poultry research, with particular emphasis on precision nutrition, feed additives, gut health, and sustainability. She has supervised more than 30 master’s and doctoral students and has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. She also serves as Editor-in-Chief for the monogastric area of the Brazilian Journal of Animal Science. Since 2024, she has been included in Stanford University and Elsevier’s World’s Top 2% Scientists list. For more details about Prof. Andretta’s work, please visit: https://www.ufrgs.br/site/a-ufrgs/corpo-docente/ines-andretta/ or https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6205-4229.

Enric Gisbert is a fish nutritionist with recognized expertise in the development and evaluation of functional feeds for aquaculture. His work focuses on the use of dietary strategies, including functional ingredients such as probiotics, prebiotics, immunostimulants, and alternative raw materials, to improve fish health, gut functionality, stress resilience, and overall performance, particularly in Mediterranean and warm‑water species. Through applied and experimental research, he has contributed to advancing sustainable feeding solutions that reduce reliance on antibiotics while supporting animal welfare and production efficiency in aquaculture systems. For more details about Dr. Gisbert’s work, please visit: https://www.irta.cat/en/personal/enric-gisbert-casas/ or https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7457-8468.

Disclosure Statement: Guest Advisors declare no conflict of interest regarding this work.

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All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review. Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

To submit your papers to this Article Collection, please:

1. Check "yes" for the question, "Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?"
2. Select the Article Collection ‘Reducing Antibiotic Use Through Preventive Strategies in Animal Production’ from the drop-down menu under the question, "Special Issue or Article Collection Name."

Please contact Changluan Zhou at [email protected] with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.