Immune Status of Turkeys in Industrial Cultivation Conditions

Abstract

The intensification of turkey farming is accompanied by the impact of various dangerous factors on the poultry’s body. This leads to a violation of metabolic processes, an imbalance in the absorption of nutrients, and immunity decrease in turkeys, which determines the relevance of the study in this area. In this regard, figuring out when immunity reduces and, in the future, increasing its effectiveness in the body of turkeys, improving metabolic processes, growth, and development of poultry determined the purpose of this study. It was found that during the first six weeks of intensive cultivation of turkeys, the body’s immune response, the activity of non-specific resistance factors on the influence of biological factors and the intensification of poultry feeding processes were effective. However, from 42 days of poultry rearing, depletion of the immune defence of the turkey body and a decrease in the activity of non-specific resistance factors were observed, which is manifested by a likely decrease in the content of total protein, albumins, and class G and M immunoglobulins in the blood of poultry (P<0.01). Analysis of the protein spectrum of turkey blood serum indicates an immunosuppressive state of the body, probably caused by the action of biological factors. By 42 days, the bactericidal and lysozyme activity of blood serum, phagocytic activity of neutrophils, and T-cell activity of lymphocytes decrease in turkeys. Nonspecific changes in the components of the functional element of the liver were detected, which are accompanied by an increase in the number of lipid inclusions of various sizes, destructive changes in mitochondria, and a decrease in the synthetic activity of cells. Studies of the immune state of the body of turkeys, the activity of factors of non-specific resistance and liver in the cycle of intensive cultivation from 7 to 120 days revealed the presence of a critical period of decrease in the effectiveness of the body’s protection and further adequate correction. The results obtained during this study will be used for educational purposes, implemented in growing turkeys in the production conditions of “Indychka” LLC (Sumy Oblast). They are offered to all farms in Ukraine to produce turkey farming products