Since January 2006, the use of antibiotics for domestic animals as feed additives has been banned within the European Union, influenced by the consumers’ demands for products free of antimicrobial residues. As an alternative, probiotics in animal nutrition have attracted attention for their potential roles as growth promoters as well as antibiotics. Recently, much research data has been gathered and suggests a potential role for probiotics from fungi as natural growth promoters in broiler nutrition. One such fungi, Aspergillus awamori, has been shown to improve the growth performance and meat quality of broiler chickens. This review examines the current scientific data on the use of A. awamori as a probiotic in broiler nutrition. From the available literature, it can be concluded that A. awamori may provide an effective alternative to antibiotics in the production of broilers.
