Nutritional Impacts of Dietary Selenium, Iodine and their Interaction on Egg Performance, and Antioxidant Profile in Laying Longyuan Duck Breeders

Abstract

The present study aimed to optimize the combined effect of dietary selenium (SE) and iodine (ID) on the productive and reproductive performance and antioxidant capacity of Longyuan breeding ducks. A total of 288 Longyan duck breeders aged 20 wk were randomly assigned to four groups with six replicates (n = 72 ducks/group; 12 ducks/replicate). A 2 × 2 factorial arrangement experiment was performed and included 2 supplementation levels of each SE and ID for 200 days of the experimental period. The first group (SE0/ID0) received a basal diet without SE or ID supplementation and was considered to be the control group, whereas the other three groups, SE0/ID4, SE2/ID0 and SE2/ID4, received a basal diet supplemented with 0.4 mg ID/kg, 0.2 mg SE/kg or 0.2 mg SE supplemented with 0.4 mg ID/kg, respectively. The results indicated that the albumin height of the SE2/ID0 group was lower (P < 0.05) than that of the control group, that the egg shape index of the SE2/ID4 and SE0/ID4 groups were lower (P < 0.05) than that of the control group (SE0/ID0), and that the SE concentration significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the SE2/ID0 and SE2/ID4 groups. Hatchability and embryonic mortality improved (P < 0.05) in the SE2/ID0 group. Plasma GSH-Px activity was increased (P < 0.05) by reducing the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the SE groups. In addition, the tibia length significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the ID (SE0/ ID4 and SE2/ID4) groups compared with that in the control group, the plasma content of IGF-1 in the SE2/ID4 and SE0/ ID4 groups were greater (P < 0.05) than that in the control group, and the bone mineral content increased (P > 0.05) in the SE2/ID0 and SE0/ID0 groups. Compared with those in the other groups, the mRNA expression of antioxidant-related genes, including Nrf2 and SHMT1 in the SE2/ID4 group was upregulated (P > 0.05), especially in the SE2/ID4 group. Overall, dietary treatment with SE2/ID4 (0.2 mg SE in 0.4 mg ID/kg diet) could be a suitable feed supplement for improving the the egg quality, health status, endogenous antioxidant content, antioxidant-related gene expression and pre-hatching quality of Longyuan duck breeders.