BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1650299
A report of the in-farm variation of antimicrobial use in commercial broiler production in Pakistan using an international monitoring system based on treatment frequency
Provisionally accepted
Betty Rehberg1
Sandra Brogden1
Fariha Fatima2
Muhammad Umair3Maria Hartmann1Julia Kschonek1Umar Farooq4
Mashkoor Mohsin2*
Lothar Kreienbrock1*- 1Tierarztliche Hochschule Hannover, Hanover, Germany
- 2University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan
- 3University of Oxford Department of Biology, Oxford, United Kingdom
- 4NS Poultry, Faisalabad, Pakistan
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Reducing antimicrobial use (AMU) in animal husbandry is imperative to curb the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, sustainable monitoring of AMU is essential to ensure responsible use, minimize resistance and promote long-term effectiveness. Examining the on-farm AMU in broiler production in Pakistan aimed to encourage farmers to adopt responsible antimicrobial practices, while also helping to observe trends in AMU during the fattening period as well as differences between farms. The data were obtained using the international AMU monitoring system VetCAb-ID, (©TiHo Hannover, Germany). In this study, the results of monitoring four commercial broiler farms, each with 20 flocks, were investigated for a period of one year. Treatment frequency (TF) based on Used Daily Dose was used to determine flock, farm and season specific differences in AMU. Describing the relative TF of different antimicrobial classes . shows that the use of antimicrobial classes varied between farms, among flocks within a farm and across fattening weeks within a flock. Overall, the most frequently used classes were polymyxins (27.2%), fluoroquinolones (20.4%), macrolides (17.1%) and tetracyclines (15.9%). The TF was higher in winter than in summer flocks. A statistically significant difference between summer and winter flocks could be observed in the use of fluoroquinolones (p=0.0463) and macrolides (p=0.0325). Using the shared international database VetCAb-ID, detailed and internationally comparable information on the on-farm use of antibiotics in Pakistan broiler production could be obtained and analyzed to identify differences between farms and flocks.
Keywords: Poultry, Critically important antibiotics, low- and middle-income countries, farm levelmonitoring, Asia
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 09 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rehberg, Brogden, Fatima, Umair, Hartmann, Kschonek, Farooq, Mohsin and Kreienbrock. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mashkoor Mohsin, mashkoormohsin@uaf.edu.pk
Lothar Kreienbrock, lothar.kreienbrock@tiho-hannover.de
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