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Background: Bentonites, as a clay mineral, serve in pig farms as adsorbents of toxic substances. They are mainly used to reduce the negative impact of mycotoxins to maintain the performance and health status of animals. The new genotypes of pigs are highly sensitive to a range of antinutrients, including mycotoxins. Currently, attention is focused on more effective adsorbents of mycotoxins with a higher adsorption capacity. Such materials are in great demand among feed manufacturers. However, there is a concern that these new materials may also adsorb too many essential nutrients and decrease animal performance. The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the effect of the new generation of purified bentonites on the efficiency and health status of the pigs. Results: Forty-eight slaughtered pigs with an average weight of 31.2 +- 2.6 kg were included in the experiment. The pigs were divided into two groups (2 x 24 pigs). Pigs were slaughtered at an average weight of 66.3 +- 5.2. The first group had a diet without clay (control-C). The second group (treatment-T) was fed a diet with a clay additive (purified bentonite) of 1.5 kg/t. Animals were fed the experimental diet for 35 days. In group T, a higher daily weight gain (by 4.8%) and feed intake (by 2.9%) was observed while the feed conversion decreased by 1.9%. There were no significant differences between the groups of pigs during observation in the evaluation of hematological, biochemical parameters of the blood. Morpho-pathological analysis of the jejunum showed similar signs of moderate lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate in the mucosa in the groups C and T, contained similar number of goblet cells. Conclusion: Taken together, the addition of the new generation of bentonite clays did not negatively influence the health status and the performance of pigs. info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Additional file 1: Table S1. Calculated nutrients; Table S2. Factors increasing the risk of diarrhea (cross-adjusted OR by binary logistic regression); Figure S1. The temporal comparison of individual groups – ZnA (A, B), ZnC (C, D), ZnO (E, F) and control (G, H) for total counts and coliforms, respectively. Boxes represent Q1 and Q3 quartiles with median bar while T-whiskers represent 95% confidence intervals of 16–30 individuals. * indicates significant differences (P

Figure S1. TEM image of commercial ZnO-N. Figure S2. Histological analysis of liver (1) and duodenum (2) of the groups rats ZnA (A, B); ZnB (C, D); ZnC (E, F); ZnD (G, H); ZnO-N (I, J); ZnO (K, L) and control group (M, N). Table S1. The weight of rats, g. (DOCX 2889 kb)

The aim of this study was to analyze production and quality of semen in boars in an insemination centre. Experimental material consisted of 8,052 semen samples collected from 146 boars. During the period of 5 years, an analysis of semen parameters was conducted. The obtained data were divided according to age of boars at the time of semen collection. Results showed that boars between 8 months and 3 years of age reached higher levels of semen volume, percentage of abnormal spermatozoa and number of spermatozoa. Older boars had lower sperm concentration levels. The largest total number of spermatozoa and corrected number of spermatozoa were observed in boars between 13 and 36 months of age. Later, the production of spermatozoa decreased. Based on the results of the presented study, the age category of 13 - 36 months can be recommended to dominate in the herd of boars in the insemination centre. info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess