The meat industry is a billion-dollar industry. Throughout the year, people consume different types of meat. This industry’s substantial growth is due to the rising demand for meat, globally. With the increase in population, the consumption of meat is also increasing. As a way forward for this growing demand, the animal husbandry industry started to look for ways to increase its production. Thus, growth promoters made their way into this industry. Growth promoters essentially improve the metabolism in animals, thereby increasing their nutrition absorption capacity. Some growth promoters induce growth by increasing the hormones that boost growth. 

Types of Growth Promoters

Growth promoters are of two types: 

Antibiotic growth promoters:

• Antibiotic growth promoters are feed additives. They help in the enhanced absorption of nutrition from the food by the farm animals. 
• Some of the antibiotics that serve the purpose of growth promoters are Monensin, Flavomycine and Virginiamycine.
• Monensin, Flavomycin and Virginiamycin are ionophores that can transfer sodium ions through the bacterial cell, interfering in its activities. 
• They act as a growth promoter, meaning they prevent bloating and digestive issues that occur in the digestive tract of the animals, thereby enhancing their growth by inducing better nutrient absorption. 

Non-Antibiotic growth promoters:

• The growth promoters that don’t come under the antibiotic stream are all non-antibiotic growth promoters. 
• These growth promoters are now widely used because of the ban on antibiotic growth promoters in some countries because of their demerits. 
• The non-antibiotic top growth promoters include hormonal implants, acidifiers, phytogenics, prebiotics  and probiotics. 
• The use of non-antibiotic growth promoters became extensive because of their benefits, such as the rapid development of healthy gut flora, increased immunity, enhanced digestion, rapid growth and reduced mortality rates. Some of these are used in combinations to achieve better results.

Problems In Using Antibiotic Growth Promoters

• The use of antibiotics extensively in animals can cause the evolution of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Most of the pathogens that affect humans originate from animals. These pathogens, when affecting humans, become difficult to treat as they are already resistant to that particular antibiotic.
• While using the antibiotic growth promoters, extreme caution is needed because the slightest misuse of dosage might result in the animal’s death.
• Some countries have already banned antibiotic growth promoters because of their demerits, which in turn has led to many black-market products and duplicate products circulating. 

Types of Non-Antibiotic Growth Promoters

Hormonal implants:

• Implanting growth-stimulating hormones into the farm animals’ bodies is called Hormonal implants. 
• The use of natural hormones such as estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone is in practice. Synthetic hormones like trenbolone acetate and zeranol mimic the natural hormones. 
• The estradiol promotes growth by increasing the appetite. 

• Testosterone induces androgen that enhances muscle development and weight gain by anabolic action.
•  Progesterone is converted into metabolites by most tissues and thus increases the rate of growth of the animal.
• Trenbolone acetate works like enhanced testosterone and works effectively in boosting muscles.
• Zeranol performs the function of enhanced estradiol.

Acidifiers:

• Acidifiers are organic acids that act as growth promoters. Acidifiers are mostly top growth promoters like propionic acid, lactic acid, formic acid, etc. They are either used separately or in combination.
•  Acidifiers are growth promoters meaning they help maintain a low pH in the intestines, thus promoting the growth of essential flora that boosts the metabolism. 
• The effects of intestinal flora help increase nutrient absorption by the cells, which enhances the growth of animals. 
• They don’t have any side effects that can affect the humans consuming the meat produced from these animals.

Phytogenics:

• Phytogenics are top growth promoters or bioactive compounds extracted from plants or vegetables. Some compounds are extracted from our regular products in the kitchen, such as garlic, cinnamon, capsicum, black pepper, turmeric, etc.
• From turmeric, curcumin is a powerful antimicrobial agent.
• Similarly, the compounds extracted help: to enhance the immunity of the animals, to improve feed efficiency, to improve appetite or feed consumption, as an anti-inflammatory, and as an antioxidant. 
• They are feed additives. It is easier to mix with food to feed a large group of animals at once.
• Their main utility is feeding poultry.

Probiotics and Prebiotics

• Probiotics are the beneficial flora that develop in the gut. These beneficial flora act as growth promoters meaning they help degenerate the non-beneficial bacteria.

•  Prebiotics can be called feed for probiotics. They are complex carbohydrates the body cannot break. The gut flora uses these complex carbohydrates for the fermentation process to produce metabolites. 

• These metabolites like propionic acid help increase the absorption of nutrients from food. It improves feed efficiency and immunity as well.  
• Thus, prebiotics and probiotics used together help in driving bodily functions that help in increasing metabolism.

Conclusion

Growth promoters are a growing industry in animal husbandry and veterinary science. The use of growth promoters is extensive. Since they affect the meat of the animals that are consumed, more research is required to study the effects of antibiotics as there is an increasing disparity among researchers about their impact on the development of drug-resistant pathogens. The turn to the natural way of improving the growth of animals is a way forward. It is a field correlated to world hunger and malnutrition. So, more care is needed as many lives are involved in this field.