The application of bacteriophages in poultry and aquaculture is currently a core green biotechnology for antibiotic reduction and substitution (antibiotic alternatives). By leveraging the ability of lytic phages to specifically recognize and destroy targeted pathogenic bacteria, this technology plays a vital role across the entire value chain, including disease prevention, food safety, and environmental disinfection.
Applications in Poultry Production
Bacteriophages provide green biological controls throughout the entire “farm-to-fork” poultry supply chain, primarily across three dimensions:
- Treatment of Bacterial Diseases: They serve as an alternative to antibiotics for target-treating poultry diseases caused by Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, and Clostridium perfringens (the pathogen behind necrotic enteritis). Administered via drinking water or feed additives, phages significantly reduce mortality rates in broilers and laying hens.
- Improving Gut Health: Phages selectively eliminate harmful pathogens in the intestinal tract without harming beneficial microbes like Lactobacillus. Studies show that low-dose phage supplementation optimizes the cecal microbiota structure, boosting feed conversion efficiency and weight gain.
- Contamination Control for Breeding Eggs and Post-Slaughter Processing: Phages are used for targeted surface sterilization in hatcheries and commercial egg production lines. During the slaughter and processing stages, they act as green biopreservatives sprayed onto poultry meat to effectively eliminate Listeria and Salmonella contamination, thereby extending shelf life.
Applications in Aquaculture
Aquatic environments are natural breeding grounds for bacterial transmission. Due to their unique property of “dying out alongside their hosts” and leaving zero residues, bacteriophages have become the “silver bullet” for antibiotic substitution in aquaculture.
- Prevention and Control of Vibriosis: Vibrio species (such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio harveyi, and Vibrio alginolyticus) are the primary culprits behind Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) in shrimp, as well as mass mortalities in fish and shellfish. The industry has developed broad-spectrum lytic phage cocktails (composite formulations) that can simultaneously lyse multiple Vibrio strains, vastly improving survival rates.
- Biological Protection in Hatcheries: Shrimp larvae and fish fry are extremely fragile, and antibiotic use in these stages is highly restricted. Regularly introducing phages into hatchery tanks precisely controls harmful bacterial loads and builds an early immune barrier.
- Eco-Friendly Water Remediation: The degradation end-products of phages are amino acids and nucleotides, which are completely non-toxic to water and sediment. Compared to chemical disinfectants, phages do not kill beneficial microflora in the ecosystem, thereby maintaining a healthy microbial balance in aquaculture environments.
Key Advantages of Bacteriophage Application
- High Specificity: They only kill the target pathogenic bacteria and never disrupt the normal commensal microbiota in the gut of poultry or aquatic animals.
- Overcoming Drug Resistance: They are highly effective against superbugs (multi-drug resistant bacteria). Furthermore, phages co-evolve alongside bacteria, allowing for rapid R&D iterations.
- Green, Safe, and Zero-Residue: As naturally occurring viruses made entirely of nucleic acids and proteins, they leave no drug residues and are completely safe for humans, animals, and the environment.
