Effect of Adding Selenium with or Without Vitamin E and Combination of them on some of Productive and Physiological Characteristics of Awassi Lambs

Abstract

The study was established to evaluate the effect of adding selenium with or without vitamin E on some of productive and physiological characteristics of Awassi male lambs. Sixteen lambs were selected after weaning with average weight of 24.30 kg and 3-4 months. All lambs fed 2% of body weight with basal diet and 1 kg green alfalfa /Lamb/day. The lambs were randomly divided into 4 groups. Control group (no additives), Selenium group (0.4 mg selenium), Vitamin group (100 mg vitamin E) and selenium + vitamin E group (0.4 mg selenium + 100 mg vitamin E) per kg dietary dry matter for 90 days. At the end of experiment, lamb performance and concentrations of Thyroxin T4, insulin and growth hormone were measured. The result showed that selenium and the combination of selenium + vitamin E treatments significantly increased (p <0.05) growth rates, final live body weight 42.20, 41.75 kg, respectively, and average daily gain 195, 191 g/day, respectively compared to other treatments. A significantly increase (P <0.05) in the concentrations of thyroxin hormone (T4) recorded in selenium + vitamin E treatment 18.20 ng/ml compared to selenium treatment and vitamin treatment. A significantly increase (P <0.05) in the concentrations of growth hormone of selenium treatment which recorded 9.279 ng/ml compared to vitamin treatment and control group. There is no difference in insulin hormone concentration between the groups. So we conclude that the addition of selenium with or without vitamin E to lamb diets achieved significant improvement in final body weight, daily weight gain, thyroxin and growth hormone.