Effects of Se supplementation on growth rate and blood parameters in lambs

Abstract

Forty-eight Appenninica lambs 30 d old received during a 63 d period the same diet (dry unifeed) supplied 4 different mineral premixes differing for their Se sources and levels to obtain the following 4 treatments (on an as fed basis): Control group (T1) - 0mg/kg Se; T2 – 0.30mg/kg Se as sodium selenite; T3 – 0.30mg/kg and T4 – 0.45mg/kg Se as Se yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Biweekly all the animals were weighed and feed consumption recorded. Moreover, at start (t0) and successively each two weeks (t14, t28, t42, t56), all the animals were blood sampled in order to evaluate plasma and whole blood Se concentration and blood glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and creatine phosphokinase (CPK) activities. Daily weight gain (averaging 166±6g/d) never differed between treatments. Se supplementation increased Se concentration in blood in relation to dietary level (p<0.05) and, compared to selenite, Se yeast seemed more effective to obtain higher concentration in whole blood (P<0.05) but not in plasma. Blood GSH-Px activity was higher in lambs receiving Se supplementation but was not influenced by Se dietary level or source. No effects could be find on blood CPK activity.

Keywords

• Lamb, Selenium, Performances, Blood biochemistry.