Effects of increasing dietary sodium selenite and selenium yeast levels on growth performance, meat quality and muscle anti-oxidative capacity of broilers

The objective of this experiment was to assess the effects of dietary sodium selenite and selenium (Se) yeast levels on growth performance, meat quality and muscle anti-oxidative capacity of broilers. A total of 360 1-day-old Cobb broilers were randomly assigned to 5 dietary treatments for 6 weeks. Diets (corn-soybean meal based diets) were supplemented with 0 mg/kg, 0.3 mg/kg and 0.6 mg/kg sodium selenium, and 0.3 mg/kg and 0.6 mg/kg selenium yeast, respectively. The results showed that Feed/Gain was significantly decreased with the increase of Se supplemental level during day 1-21 (P < 0.05), and body weight gain and Feed/Gain of broilers were improved with the increase of Se supplemental level by day 22 to 42 (P < 0.05). The dietary Se levels significantly affected the a*, cohesion, adhesion, chewing and recovery values of meat as well (P < 0.05). Se supplementation in diets also increased DPPH, hydroxyl radical scavenging and SOD, but significantly decreased TBARS and POV values compared to control (P < 0.05). The biological utilization rates of organic Se against inorganic Se were 116.0%, 123.1%, 109.7%, 109.8%, and 135.2%, respectively. The present results supported that organic Se was more bio-available and more effective in terms of growth performance, meat quality, muscle antioxidant and organ deposition efficiency compared to inorganic selenium. Therefore, the addition of 0.6 mg/kg selenium yeast (SY) during broiler breeding was the most effective.