Bacteriophage Therapy in Poultry Production: Mechanisms, Applications, and Antimicrobial Stewardship—Review

The rapid emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major challenge to sustainable poultry production, food safety, and public health. It reduces the effectiveness of conventional antibiotics and highlights the need for alternative approaches to bacterial disease control. Bacteriophage therapy has re-emerged as a promising biological approach because of its high specificity, self-amplifying nature, and ability to target multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. Phages may also cause less disruption of beneficial intestinal microbiota than broad-spectrum antibiotics, although this effect depends on the phage, target bacterium, treatment conditions, and host context. This review synthesizes current knowledge on bacteriophage biology, mechanisms of action, and therapeutic applications against major poultry pathogens, including Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica, avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC), Campylobacter spp., and Clostridium perfringens. It also examines the challenges associated with commercial implementation. Unlike previous reviews that have mainly focused on pathogen control, this review links bacteriophage therapy with antimicrobial stewardship and the One Health framework to provide a broader perspective on its role in sustainable poultry production. Evidence from experimental, field, and food-chain studies shows that phage therapy can reduce bacterial colonization, biofilm formation, pathogen shedding, and food contamination; and may contribute to antimicrobial stewardship. Recent advances in phage cocktails, genomics-guided phage selection, precision diagnostics, and formulation technologies have further increased their therapeutic potential. However, narrow host range, bacterial resistance, formulation stability, large-scale production, and differences in regulatory requirements continue to limit widespread commercial adoption. Overall, bacteriophage therapy is a promising approach for controlling bacterial diseases in poultry. It may contribute to more targeted antimicrobial use and improved food safety when integrated with other disease-control measures. Although direct reductions in antibiotic use require validation under commercial production conditions.