Effect of a complex prebiotic preparation on the preservation, growth intensity and microflora in rabbits’ intestine

Abstract

We presented the effect of prebiotic "Bio-active" on preservation, increase of the body weight, the microflora composition in the distal small intestine, histological examination of the intestinal wall and liver of rabbits gray giant breed 45 days aged. Prebiotic "Bio-active" contains products of metabolism of lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus bulgaricus delbrueckii adsorbed on zeolite. Our results proved the safety of this prebiotic for the rabbits. Optimal scheme for oral administration of the prebiotic was 2.0 g per 1 kg of body weight for 30 days. Such a course provided 95% of animal preservation and increase in the weight gain of the experimental animals, an average of 43.1% compared with the non-treated rabbits. In scarifies of distal intestine in 20% of animals that received the prebiotic and in 100% of those who did not receive it, Bacteria of Proteus genus have been detected. After the course of prebiotic we registered an increased number of Enterobacteriaceae (4.5–6.0 × 108 CFU) and Bifidobacteria (8 × 107–108 CFU) in rabbits’ intestines. We also mentioned the enhanced gram-positive/gram-negative ratio with a predominance of gram-positive (1:1.17 against 1:2.9 in control group). In case of prebiotic usage, the stimulation of goblet cells’ development was determined in the small intestine walls. Almost 100% of rabbits, who did not receive the prebiotic, had dystrophic changes in hepatocytes (74.5 % of the animals had fatty hepato-dystrophy and 25 % had protein granular dystrophy). We registered that only 25% of the animals had fatty hepato-dystrophy and 15% had protein granular dystrophy among those, which received the preparation.