Maternal Organo-Selenium Compounds and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Affect Progeny Performance and Levels of Selenium and Docosahexaenoic Acid in the Chick Tissues

Abstract

The effects of supplementing broiler breeder diets with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and organo-Se compounds on the levels of Se and PUFA in chick tissues and on chick performance were assessed. Prepeak (23 wk) and peak (27 wk) production broiler breeders were fed 1 of 4 diets: a wheat-based commercial diet with soybean oil or fish oil but no added Se, and each diet with added Se as Sel-Plex (soybean oil + Se, fish oil + Se; Alltech Inc, Nicholasville, KY). The diets were designed to contain less than 0.1 mg of Se/kg and about 0.5 mg/kg for the nonsupplemented and the supplemented diets, respectively. As-hatched chicks from the 4 parental treatments were fed a nutritionally high quality diet (ME = 12.57 MJ/kg; CP = 228.7 g/kg) or a low quality diet (ME = 10.28 MJ/kg; CP = 182.8 g/kg), resulting in 8 dietary treatments. Performance was better and mortality lower in chicks from 27-wk-old breeders compared with those from 23-wk-old breeders. Fish oil in the maternal diet increased progeny mortality and reduced chick body mass at hatch. Body mass at 7 and 14 d posthatch was lower in chicks fed the low quality diet compared with chicks fed the high quality diet. At hatch, and for up to 14 d posthatch, chicks from hens fed diets high in PUFA had higher concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the brain and liver compared with chicks hatched from hens fed diets low in PUFA. The DHA content of the tissues of chicks from breeders fed diets supplemented with Se was higher than that in chicks from breeders fed unsupplemented diets. Even after 14 d of being fed a diet with identical levels of Se, chicks hatched from parents fed diets high in Se had higher tissue Se concentrations than those hatched from parents fed diets low in Se. Supplementation of the maternal diet of chicks with organo-Se appears to enhance the DHA concentration of the chick brain, which may improve brain function.

Selenium and vitamin E diet inclusion for optimal reproduction performances of red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa)

“…Parents' nutrition significantly influenced chick quality; supplementing selenium and vitamin E in partridge parents' diets from 0.2 and 66 mg/kg to 0.5 and 125 mg/kg, increased egg shell and embryo relative weight. The observed results are in accordance with Pappas et al (2006b), whose study showed that chicks derived from parents-fed selenium enriched diets were heavier at hatch than those fed the low selenium diets. Though, Sevč ıkov a et al (2006) reported no difference in body weight of broiler chickens-fed diets containing 0 and 0.3 mg/kg Se, Cantor et al (1982) observed higher body weight at 28-day post-hatch when poults were fed Se supplemented diets (0.04-0.12 mg/kg Se); results observed in the present work confirmed the same trend just from the pre-hatching embryos (24 days old embryos).…”

Simultaneous Effects of Green Tea Extracts and Fish Oil on Mercury Accumulation and Antioxidant Defenses in Methylmercury-exposed Adult Mice

“…Hence, Se may play an important role in reducing MeHg toxicity and accumulation. However, some reports demonstrated that Se consumption may increase the percentage of n-3 PUFAs in tissues (Pappas et al, 2006a(Pappas et al, , 2006bHaug et al, 2007). Hence, FO-mediated increases in muscle Se may also be related to antioxidant metabolism in muscle.…”

Use of Stringent Selection Parameters for the Identification of Possible Selenium-Responsive Marker Genes in Mouse Liver and Gastrocnemius

“…YS, a natural organic product that has been shown to have a mostly selenomethionine source of selenium [10], has been used in numerous nutritional studies [11][12][13][14][15][16].…”