Influence of salinomycin on antimicrobial resistance of coliforms and streptococci from broiler chickens.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate antimicrobial resistance of coliforms and streptococci isolated from feces of chickens fed salinomycin. Two groups of 20 chickens were fed either a control feed or feed supplemented with 80 g/ton salinomycin. Chicken fecal coliforms and streptococci were isolated at 5, 15, 19, 22, 26, 33, 40, and 47 days of age and their resistance to 11 or 12 antibacterial agents (coliforms and streptococci, respectively) were determined in both groups of chickens. Salinomycin significantly reduced the number of coliforms resistant to sulfadiazine and reduced the number of streptococci resistant to erythromycin and lincomycin. Streptococci from birds fed salinomycin had lower minimum inhibitory concentrations for streptomycin. No streptococci isolates developed resistance to salinomycin. Coliforms from birds fed salinomycin had more (P less than .05) resistance patterns involving two, five, and six drugs. Numbers of coliforms resistant to streptomycin, ampicillin, carbenicillin, and cephalothin were greater (P less than .05) from birds fed salinomycin.