Productive Performance, Serum Antioxidant Status, Tissue Selenium Deposition, and Gut Health Analysis of Broiler Chickens Supplemented with Selenium and Probiotics—A Pilot Study

Abstract

The effect and interaction of dietary selenium (Se) and probiotics on three yellow chicken growth performance, tissue Se content, antioxidant capacity, and gut health were studied from 0 to 70 days of age. A total of 400 one-day-old broilers were distributed into four groups (I-Se, O-Se, I-Se + pros, and O-Se + pros groups) consisting of a 2 × 2 factorial design. The main factors were the source of Se (I-Se = inorganic Se: 0.2 mg/kg sodium selenite; O-Se = organic Se: 0.2 mg/kg Selenium yeast) and the level of probiotics (0.5% EM or 0% EM, the component of EM mainly includes Lactobacillus and Yeast at the dose of 2 × 108 cfu/kg and 3 × 107 cfu/kg, respectively). Each treatment had 5 duplicates consisting of 20 broilers. The results showed that the I-Se group had a greater (p < 0.05) ratio of feed: weight gain (F/G) of broilers at Starter (0–35 d) than the other treatments. Compared to the I-Se group, the O-Se group increased (p < 0.05) Se concentrations in the liver, pancreas, breast muscles, thigh muscle, and the activity of total antioxidative capacity (T-AOC) in serum, as well as the relative abundance of Barnesiella and Lactobacillus in cecum. Meanwhile, probiotics enhanced (p < 0.05) Se concentrations in the pancreas, thigh muscle, serum, and the activity of T-AOC and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), the duodenum’s ratio of villi height to crypt depth (V/C), the jejunum villus height and V/C, and the ileum’s villus height. Furthermore, the significant interactions (p < 0.05) between Se sources and the level of probiotics were observed in Se concentrations in the pancreas, thigh muscle, serum, crypt depth of duodenum, and villus height of jejunum of birds, and Barnesiella abundance in the cecal. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the combination of O-Se + pros can improve broiler early growth performance, tissue Se content in the pancreas, thigh muscle, and serum, promote intestinal development, and regulate the composition of intestinal flora, suggesting a better combination. These findings provide an effective method of nutrient combination addition to improving the performance of three yellow chickens.

The effect of Bacillus subtilis and its delivery route on hatch and growth performance, blood biochemistry, immune status, gut morphology, and microbiota of broiler chickens

“…This result is in conformation with prevailing knowledge in the literature that microbial diversity is higher in the ceca compared to the ileum as a result of higher fermentation activity ( Mohd Shaufi et al., 2015 ; Qin et al., 2018 ; Oladokun et al., 2022 ). Similarly, other studies ( Chang et al., 2020 ; Oladokun et al., 2021a ; Zhang et al., 2021 ; Guo et al., 2021 ; Deng et al., 2022 ; Memon et al., 2022 ) involving probiotics supplementation have also reported no significant effect of probiotics (irrespective of delivery routes) on alpha diversity indices. According to Thibodeau et al.…”

Effect of Cardamine violifolia on Plasma Biochemical Parameters, Anti-Oxidative Capacity, Intestinal Morphology, and Meat Quality of Broilers Challenged with Lipopolysaccharide

“…Se is an important component of at least 25 selenoproteins involved in various physiological processes, including immune function and maintenance of antioxidant defense to avoid tissue damage [ 3 ]. Among them, the most important role of Se lies in that as a key component of antioxidant enzymes, which enhances the activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and reduces the content of lipid peroxide malondialdehyde (MDA), and reduces oxidative stress in broilers [ 4 , 5 ]. In addition, dietary Se supplementation can also improve the growth performance and meat quality of broilers [ 6 , 7 , 8 ].…”

“…Organic Se is less poisonous than inorganic Se and has better tissue retention and bioavailability than inorganic Se, which may be due to the absorption of organic Se in the gut being faster and higher [ 10 ]. In addition, different absorption pathways will result in organic Se being more retained in muscle tissue than inorganic Se [ 5 ]. Therefore, organic Se is preferable in poultry farming.…”

Optimization of Fermented Maize Stover for the Fattening Phase of Geese: Effect on Production Performance and Gut Microflora

“…Alpha diversity indices (Chao1 richness estimates, Shannon's diversity index, Simpson's index and observed species) at the ASV (amplicon sequence variant) level were calculated using the ASV table and visualized as box plots. In addition, to study the structural variation in microbial communities between samples, weighted UniFrac distance metrics [21] were used to conduct beta diversity analysis and visualization through principal coordinate analysis (PCoA).…”