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prebiotic, probiotic, intestinal health, microbiota
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of replacing zinc bacitracin with a symbiotic aditive starting in the rearing, rearing and production stages on hematological and biochemical parameters, organ development and Clostridium perfringens count and resistance in the of layers in the latel phase. The experimental diets were composed of two base diets, the first composed of corn and soybean meal (RMS) and the second composed of corn, soybean meal and meat and bone meal - no additives (FCO), FCO with 0.05% zinc bacitracin (BAC) and FCO with 0.1% symbiotic additive, which were fed from the rearing (SIMC), rearing (SIMR) and production (SIMP) phases. At 89 and 90 weeks of age blood samples were collected to hematology and serum biochemistry analyses. At 90 weeks of age, organ length and weight, pH of the luminal contents, and Clostridium perfringens count in the cecal contents were measured and histomoformetry of Variables were analyzed by PROC GLM of the SAS OnDemand program and means were compared by the Orthogonal Contrast test (P≤0.05). The contrasts consisted of C1: RMS vs FCO; C2: FCO vs BAC; C3: BAC vs SIMC; C4: BAC vs SIMR; C5: BAC vs SIMP; C6: BAC vs SIMP. For C1 there was significant difference for URI and Clostridium perfringens count, where the FCO treatment showed lower URI concentration and for C.perfringens number a higher mean CFU/g. In C2 there was difference for the variables TROM, PT, AST, LDH, FOS, COL and length of CEC, where BAC showed higher concentrations of liver enzymes, phosphorus and cholesterol and lower number of thrombocytes and smaller size of cecum. In C3 there was EOS difference, SIMC treatment obtained a higher mean, liver enzymes and phosphorus had lower concentration in SIMC and higher HDL concentration and a lower C.perfringens count in the same treatment. In C4 it obtained significant differences similar to C3, except for the inclusion of difference in LIN, LDH, relative weight of FIG and pH of crop, where SIMR had higher mean LIN, lower LDH concentration, lower liver proportion and more acidic crop pH compared to BAC. Contrast 5 showed the same behavior for liver enzymes, phosphorus and HDL in C3, the same for pap pH and proportion of FIG in C4 and higher caecal content pH of SIMP treatment compared to BAC. The symbiotic improved the histomorphometry (villus area and villus height) of the jejunum, duodenum and ileum compared to the other treatments. It also increased the susceptibility of the antibiotics to isolated C.perfringens. Considering what was evaluated, the symbiotic appeared to improve immune cell activity, liver condition and modulate the intestinal microbiota by reducing the number of C.perfringens colonies and bacterial resistance and by improving the histomorphometric conditions of the small intestine.