Influence of the prebiotic Bio-active on natural resistance, safety and productivity of young pigs

The primary task of the livestock industry is to provide the population with high-quality food products, and the industry with raw materials. For this, it is necessary to ensure a high level of productivity and safety of young pigs. Studies carried out in recent years indicate an increase in the incidence of gastrointestinal diseases among young farm animals, leading to a decrease in the immunobiological reactivity of the piglets' organism and significant damage to farms. When performing the research, we used zootechnical, zoohygienic, biochemical, immunological and variational-statistical research methods. Research work was carried out during 2010-2018 at the Department of Animal Hygiene and Fundamentals of Veterinary Medicine of the Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University. Scientific and economic experiments and production tests were carried out in the farms of Progress LLC (Uzin, Bila Tserkva district) and Denisenko LLC (Skvirsky district, Kyiv region). Experimental studies were carried out in the Problem Laboratory of Immunology, Department of Animal Hygiene and Fundamentals of Veterinary Medicine, interfaculty laboratory of biochemical and histochemical research methods. For the first time, the prebiotic Bio-active was used as a feed additive in the diet of young pigs on growing at industrial keeping, its positive effect on the safety, productivity, physiological and immunological state of their body was proved. For the first time, the optimal dose of the prebiotic Bio-active for growing pigs was established and a method of its use was developed. The optimal dose of the prebiotic Bio-active for growing young pigs is 5 g (5x107 CFU) per 10 kg of body weight when fed with compound feed once a day for 30 days, which contributes to an increase in the average daily weight gain of piglets by 17.2 % (P <0.01) and 16.6 % (P <0.05) on the 30th and 60th days of the study, respectively. Feeding pigs with Bio-active promotes an increase in the content of total blood serum protein by 7.2 % (P <0.05), albumin – by 5.2 %, γ-globulins – by 6.3 %, an increase in AST activity – by 23, 1 % (P <0.05) and ALT – by 22.4 % (P <0.01). In the peripheral blood of rearing pigs under the influence of the prebiotic Bio-active, the proliferation, differentiation and specialization of immunocompetent cells increase: an increase in the total number of T-lymphocytes by 5.43 % (P <0.05), B-lymphocytes by 2.85 %, a decrease in the content of 0-lymphocytes – by 8.29 % (P <0.05). The number of medium-avid T-lymphocytes also increases – by 9.19 % (P <0.05) and B-lymphocytes – by 10.28 % (P <0.05) due to a decrease in the level of low-avid immunocompetent cells. The use of the prebiotic Bio-active in an optimal dose promotes the activation of metabolic processes, antigen-nonspecific immunity and an increase in the body weight of pigs.Key words: industrial pig breeding, rearing young pigs, housing conditions, gastrointestinal canal, prebiotic, immunobiological reactivity, metabolism, safety.