Use of Chemical Nano-Selenium as an Antibacterial and Antifungal Agent in Quail Diets and Its Effect on Growth, Carcasses, Antioxidant, Immunity and Caecal Microbes

Abstract

Nano-minerals are used to enhance mineral bioavailability, which helps improve animal growth and health. The use of chemical nano-selenium (Che-SeNPs) has lately attracted great scientific interest, mainly due to its potential benefits for poultry. The current study was conducted to investigate the impact of the dietary supplementation of Che-SeNPs on the growth performance, carcass traits, blood constituents, antioxidant status, immunity, and gut microbiota of Japanese quails. A total of one week-old 180 Japanese quails were randomly distributed into four equal groups, and each group consisted of 45 unsexed birds with five replications (nine birds each). The first group was fed a basal diet without supplementation (0 g/kg Che-SeNPs), and the second, third, and fourth groups were fed diets containing 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 g/kg Che-SeNPs, respectively. The results showed that the dietary supplementation of Che-SeNPs significantly (p < 0.0001) increased body weight, body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio, but decreased feed intake (p < 0.0001) compared to the control group. The highest values of growth performance were recorded in the group fed 0.4 g Che-SeNPs g/kg feed. Che-SeNPs levels did not affect the carcass traits, relative organs (except liver), or blood hematology (except platelet count and hemoglobin level) of quails. Plasma total protein, albumin, aspartate amino transferase (AST), and urea values were not affected by dietary Che-SeNPs, but alanine aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase values declined. Globulin and creatinine values were linearly increased with the inclusion of Che-SeNPs (0.4 and 0.6 g/kg) in quail diets compared to the control. The supplementation of Che-SeNPs in quail diets significantly improved (p < 0.05) the plasma lipid profile and activities of antioxidant enzymes compared to the control group. Immunoglobulin G values of Che-SeNPs (0.4 and 0.6 g/kg) were higher (p < 0.05) than those in the control group. The groups fed diets supplemented with Che-SeNPs showed lower (p < 0.0001) total bacterial count, total yeast and molds count, Coliform, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp., and Salmonella spp. colonization, and higher (p = 0.0003 and 0.0048) lactic acid bacteria counts than those in the control group. In conclusion, Che-SeNPs supplemented up to 0.4 g/kg can improve the performance, lipid profile, antioxidant indices, and immunity, as well as decrease intestinal pathogens in quails during the fattening period (1–5 weeks of age).

Tomato pomace as a nontraditional feedstuff: productive and reproductive performance, digestive enzymes, blood metabolites, and the deposition of carotenoids into egg yolk in quail breeders

“…At 16-wk-old, six males from each group were randomly sacrificed and blood samples were collected into heparinized at 4,000 rpm for 15 min to obtain plasma ( Abd El-Azeem et al, 2014 ; Madkour et al, 2021 ; Alagawany et al, 2021b , c ). All plasma biomarkers including alanine transaminase ( ALT ), aspartate transaminase ( AST ), lactate dehydrogenase ( LDH ); kidney function, creatinine, urea; triglyceride ( TG ), total cholesterol ( TC ), high-density lipoprotein ( HDL ), low-density lipoprotein ( LDL ); total protein ( TP ), globulin ( GLOB .…”

Hot red pepper powder as a safe alternative to antibiotics in organic poultry feed: an updated review

“…However, eliminating antibiotics from the animal diet reflected poorly on growth enhancement, FCR, and feed efficiency ( Puvača et al, 2019a ; Reda et al, 2020 ; Sheiha et al, 2020 ; Reda et al, 2021a ). Therefore, the use of natural compounds, such as probiotics ( Abd El‐Hack et al, 2020a ; Alagawany et al, 2021a ; El-Saadony et al, 2021a ), prebiotics ( Yaqoob et al, 2021 ; Abd El-Hack et al, 2022 ), essential oils ( Alagawany et al, 2021b ; El-Tarabily et al, 2021 ), herbal extracts ( Abou-Kassem et al, 2021 ; Saad et al, 2021a ), amino acids ( Abou-Kassem et al, 2021 ), green synthesized nanoparticles ( Abd El-Ghany et al, 2021 ; El-Saadony et al, 2021b , c , d ), bioactive peptides ( El-Saadony et al, 2021e , f ), safe, natural pigments ( Abdelnour et al, 2020a , b ; Ashour et al, 2021 ), bioactive medicinal plants ( El-Saadony et al., 2022 ), plant products ( El-Shall et al, 2022 ), and phytogenic compounds ( Abd El-Hack et al, 2020b ; Abd El‐Hack et al, 2021b ; Abdel-Moneim et al., 2022 ), for growth promotion and pathogen resistance became a trend and an alternative to antibiotics ( Simon et al, 2005 ; Stanaćev et al, 2011 ; Puvača et al, 2013 ; Alagawany et al, 2021c ).…”

The effect of metal-containing nanoparticles on the health, performance and production of livestock animals and poultry

“…Dietary supplementation of growing quail with 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 g/kg of diet with SeNPs increased body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio, while feed intake decreased compared to the control group with the highest effect recorded for 0.4 g/kg of diet. They significantly improved the plasma lipid profile, antioxidant enzymes activity, immunoglobulin G values, blood biochemistry, and bacterial environment of the intestine of quail (Alagawany et al 2021 ).…”