Conference about Alquermold Natural to prevent necrotic enteritis at AAAP Congress

Biovet S.A. has participated in the annual meeting of the American Association of Avian Pathologist (AAAP) 2020 held online on July 30^th – August 6^th. On this occasion, Dr. David Diez, veterinarian of Biovet S.A., presented a trial about the use of the natural antimicrobial, Alquermold Natural, for the prevention of necrotic enteritis in broilers.

Necrotic enteritis is one of the most common diseases in poultry and causes economic losses worldwide. The ban of antibiotic growth promoters has made it a re-emerging disease. In addition, the disease appears on many occasions in the moment prior to slaughter, when antibiotic treatment is limited due to the withdrawal period.

The economic impact is estimated to be around 6 thousand million dollars per year, because of the mortality of its clinical presentation and, particularly, the decrease in productivity caused by the subclinical form. It is an acute enterotoxaemia caused by Clostridium perfringens, characterized by severe necrosis of the intestinal mucosa, which alters nutrient absorption and productivity, and may cause the death of the bird.

Due to its high incidence, it is important to apply natural solutions that prevent the appearance of this disease. In that sense, the trial compared the results obtained in a control batch and a batch treated with Alquermold Natural, used as a preventative, and where the birds were infected with Clostirdium perfringens, etiologic agent of necrotic enteritis.

An improvement of the productive parameters was observed in the batch treated with Alquermold Natural, especially in the conversion rate, which improved by 3.93%, and the efficiency index, with 84.2 more points. Lower mortality rate was also observed with Alquermold Natural.

This way, Alquermold Natural, a product based on cimenol ring, is positioned as a natural aromatic compound obtained from botanical extract effective as an intestinal microbiocide that prevents the appearance of several bacterial diseases such as necrotic enteritis.

In the event, the participants’ questions were answered through an online session dedicated to this purpose. In this sense, the participants were interested in the mechanism of action of the product, which is specific against pathogenic microorganisms and does not affect the beneficial ones, such as Lactobacillus. Another important question raised by users was the type of strain used for the test. In the presented trial, a field strain was used, isolated from animals with symptoms of the disease, so that the reproduction of the disease was greatly adjusted to the real situations that farmers face every day.