Broiler meat production as affected by dietary supplemental hydroxy-selenomethionine

Selenium (Se) is essential and usually deficient in corn-soy feeds for broiler chickens. Hydroxy-selenomethionine (OH-SeMet) is a commercial organic source that has not been thoroughly evaluated as a single supplemental source of Se. The objective of this study was to evaluate the increasing dietary Se supplementation from OH-SeMet on broiler growth performance, meat yields, wooden breast (WB) and glutathione peroxidase responses in tissues. A total of 1,500 Cobb vs. Cobb 500 slow feathering one-day-old male chicks were allocated to five treatments with 12 replicates of 25 broilers each in a 3-phase feeding program from d 1 to 42 (0.0, 0.15, 0.30, 0.45 and 0.60 mg/kg of Se supplemented from OH-SeMet). Supplemental Se levels were chosen in order to provide a robust dose-response adjustment and were based on known deficient and excessive dietary contents for broiler chickens. The non-supplemented starter, grower, and finisher feeds had analyzed 0.03, 0.03, and 0.02 mg/kg Se, respectively. At 35 and 42 d of age, five broilers per pen were processed for meat evaluation and scored for WB. Samples from blood, liver, jejunum, and ileum as well as breast meat samples were taken at 42 d for evaluation of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity and lipid oxidation (TBARS), whereas breast meat was also analyzed for cooking loss (CL) and water-holding capacity (WHC). Statistical analysis was conducted using the quadratic polynomial regression model. Increasing Se from OH-SeMet led to quadratic increases (P < 0.05) in BWG from d 1 to 42, with optimal concentration at 0.47 mg/kg Se as well as optimized estimations for FCR at 0.42 mg/kg Se. Dietary Se that maximized carcass and breast meat yields at 42 d were 0.41 and 0.48 mg/kg Se, respectively (P < 0.05). Dietary Se that maximized GSH-Px activity in erythrocytes was at 0.27 mg/kg (P < 0.05). No effects of Se were observed on WB scores at 35 and 42 d of age, CL and WHC as well as on TBARS in intestine, liver and breast muscle samples (P > 0.05). Supplementation of Se from OH-SeMet in corn-soy feeds improved broiler performance, carcass and breast yields. Average Se that optimized BWG was 0.48 mg/kg, whereas 0.46 mg/kg was needed for carcass and 0.40 mg/kg for breast yield. These are total Se contents acceptable in the European Union and frequently below commercially used contents in countries that do not have a limit on minerals in feeds.