Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry (Jan 2014)
The effect of addition of organic selenium on pheasant production characteristics
Abstract
The effect of organic selenium as feed additive contained in the feed was investigated, applied in concentrations of 0.3 and 0.4 mg Se/kg mixture on production characteristics pheasant. The study was conducted on a total of 45 common pheasant individuals Phasianus colchicus, six weeks old, divided into three equal groups of 15 individuals for 60 days. The control pheasants group was fed with a standard mixture without addition of selenium during the experiment, while the mixture of group I contained 0.15 g/kg and pheasants group II had 0.20 g/kg additives with organic selenium. The results showed that different amounts of organic selenium presence in pheasants' feed had a positive effect on analyzed productivity indicators of pheasants' growth rate, both their final body weight and weight gain (p 0.05). The best production results were achieved by individual II group, which also had the highest selenium content in muscle tissue of the pectoral muscles, drumstick and thigh (p <0.05).