book chapter · IntechOpen eBooks
Bacillus subtilis serves as a resilient, spore-forming probiotic feed additive suitable for livestock, aquaculture, and companion animals. Its ability to produce stable spores and bioactive compounds, such as the antimicrobial peptides surfactin and fengycin, supports nutrient uptake, gut health, and immune function. In agricultural and aquatic settings, the bacterium improves growth performance, feed efficiency, disease resistance, animal welfare, and water quality. From a One Health standpoint, adopting this probiotic helps reduce antimicrobial resistance, control zoonotic pathogens, and lower environmental impacts while supporting food safety. While regulatory bodies recognise its safety through GRAS and QPS statuses, wider adoption requires addressing challenges such as strain variability, dose optimisation, and delivery formulation. Biotechnological innovations, including spore encapsulation and omics-driven strain selection, offer clear pathways to advance its application across animal industries.
Overuse of antibiotics in agriculture accelerates the spread of antimicrobial resistance, threatening global public health and food security. Bacillus subtilis offers a viable biological alternative that enhances animal nutrition and disease defence naturally. By improving welfare, productivity, and environmental outcomes across farming and aquaculture, this approach supports sustainable animal production and aligns with broader One Health initiatives to safeguard human, animal, and ecosystem health.
Bacillus subtilis is targeted at animal feed manufacturers, livestock producers, and aquaculture operators seeking alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters. Because the organism already possesses recognised GRAS and QPS safety statuses, it is applied and near-market. However, wider commercialisation requires applied development to overcome strain variability, dose optimisation, and delivery challenges, using advances such as spore encapsulation and omics-driven strain selection to ensure consistent product performance.
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Bacillus subtilis, a resilient spore-forming Gram-positive bacterium, has emerged as a sustainable feed biosupplement capable of enhancing animal health and productivity while supporting the One Health paradigm. This chapter comprehensively reviews its applications across livestock (poultry, swine, and ruminants), aquaculture (finfish, shellfish, and crustaceans), and companion animals (dogs, cats, and horses). It explores the shift from antibiotic growth promoters to probiotics, the biological properties enabling spore stability and bioactive compound production, and key mechanisms of action, including enzymatic nutrient enhancement, secretion of antimicrobial peptides (e.g., surfactin, fengycin), gut microbiota modulation, immune stimulation, and anti-inflammatory effects. Species-specific benefits to growth performance, feed efficiency, disease resistance, and welfare are discussed alongside comparative insights and water quality improvements in aquaculture. The chapter further examines One Health implications, particularly the reduction of antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic pathogens, and environmental impact, while addressing food safety and socio-economic dimensions. Critical challenges such as strain variability, dose optimization, formulation and delivery issues, and long-term ecological effects are critically analyzed, together with biotechnological advances, including spore encapsulation, synergistic formulations, and AI/omics-driven strain improvement. With its GRAS/QPS safety status and regulatory considerations, B. subtilis is positioned as a viable alternative to antibiotics. This contribution highlights research gaps and provides a forward-looking roadmap for its wider commercialization in responsible animal production.
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DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.1017096
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