Probiotics and Prebiotics: An Overview on Recent Trends

The ban of antibiotics at subtherapeutic levels as growth promoters in animals, along with the emerging challenges and prospects deriving from the use of probiotics and prebiotics in humans, opened the era of similar applications in the field of animal nutrition. Probiotics and prebiotics as novel additives in animal feeding aiming at host-protecting functions, which can maintain animal health and welfare, create fascinating options in favor of both animals and consumers of products of animal origin. In recent years, a considerable amount of knowledge regarding the potential of probiotics and prebiotics as supplements at prophylactic and therapeutic level has been accumulated. However, several bottlenecks are still observed, not only at the science, technology, and application level but also at the regulatory level. In this chapter, we summarize the current knowledge, along with the future trends on the applications of probiotics and prebiotics in animals and more specifically in polygastric, monogastric, and aquatic animals, pets, and bees. Moreover, we discuss the respective regulatory frame and its limitations.