Quality of meat and selenium content in tissues of rabbits fed diets supplemented with sodium selenite, selenized yeast and selenized algae

Abstract

Forty rabbits weaned at 35 d of age were randomly assigned to 4 groups of 10 rabbits each. The rabbits were fed a basal granulated diet containing 0.08 mg Se/kg, or diets obtained from basal diet, supplemented with sodium selenite, selenized yeast (Se-yeast) or selenized algae Chlorella (Se-algae) to increase the Se concentration to 0.40 mg/kg. After 6 weeks rabbits were slaughtered at 77 d of age. Samples of meat, liver and hair were analyzed. The Se supplements did not infl uence rabbit growth, feed intake and weight loss during cooling. The nutrient composition of meat (dry matter, protein and fat concentration) was only marginally infl uenced. The Se concentration in the loin and hindleg meat increased by 23.0% and 19.2%, respectively in rabbits receiving the selenite supplement. In rabbits fed Se-yeast and Se-algae, the Se content in meat doubled from 0.11-0.15 mg/kg to 0.24-0.29 mg/kg. High Se concentrations (=1 mg/kg) were observed in hair and liver of rabbits which had received the Se-supplements. In all supplemented groups, the activity of glutathione peroxidase in the loin meat was higher than in control rabbits by 51.9-72.8% (P<0.001). The oxidative stability of rabbit meat, however, was not infl uenced. It follows from our results that (i) the enrichment of meat with Se is the main benefi t of supranutritional Se supply in rabbits, and (ii) Se-yeast and Se-algae are more effective in increasing Se content in tissues than selenite.

Fortification of rabbit diets with vitamin E or selenium affects growth performance, lipid peroxidation, oxidative status and immune response in growing rabbits

“…E (Rooke et al, 2004;Suraï, 2002). On the contrary, previous reports (Castellini et al, 1998;Dokoupilová et al, 2007;Marounek et al, 2009) indicated that no significant effect of vit. E and Se supplementation on body weight, feed intake and feed conversion has been observed in rabbits.…”

“…E and Se supplementation on body weight, feed intake and feed conversion has been observed in rabbits. It is important to mention that overall growth was low when compared with previous studies (i.e., Eiben et al, 2011;Marounek et al, 2009). These differences might be attributed to the differences between strains and the differences in the environmental conditions as the animals of the present study were housed in an open-sided house and were negatively affected by severe environmental conditions.…”

“…In contrast, other studies have found little benefit of supranutritional levels of vit. E (Castellini et al, 1998;Oriani et al, 2001) and organic Se (Dokoupilová et al, 2007;Marounek et al, 2009) as they did not affect dressing percentage or carcass traits in rabbits. The inclusion of vit.…”

“…Rabbit meat may be excellent to produce specific functional foods since its good properties such as the contents of minerals, vitamins and fatty acids can be further enriched via feeding (Dalle Zotte and Szendrő, 2011;Marounek et al, 2009). Lipid oxidation is a major problem in rabbit meat due to the high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are susceptible to oxidation leading to reducing the shelf life due to rancidity and color deterioration (Dalle Zotte and Szendrő, 2011).…”

“…Se-enriched meat could be achieved through the fortification of diets with organic Se (selenomethionine) as it is incorporated into proteins in place of methionine (Rayman, 2004). It has been demonstrated that dietary Se supplementation increases Se concentration in the meat of rabbits (Dokoupilová et al, 2007;Marounek et al, 2009), lambs (Liu et al, 2011), calves , and chickens (Wang and Xu, 2008). Se plays an important role in activating the antioxidative properties via its involvement in the active site of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in blood, liver and edible tissues (Suraï, 2002) which might be connected with enhancing the immune response in mammals (Rayman, 2004).…”