Effect of Dietary Organic Selenium on Growth Performance, Gut Health, and Coccidiosis Response in Broiler Chickens

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Selenium is an essential trace mineral for better performance, meat quality, and health benefits in farm animals. In broiler diets, selenium has been added in inorganic or organic form to maintain the selenium requirement of the chickens. Researchers have studied the effects and applications of both inorganic and organic selenium in broiler nutrition. However, there is a paucity of information pertaining to organic selenium application under coccidiosis conditions. In this study, we evaluated the effect of dietary organic selenium on growth performance, gut health, and tissue selenium concentrations in broiler chickens under coccidiosis conditions. Results indicated that the addition of organic selenized yeast improved the growth performance and enhanced the selenium concentrations in the tissue, regardless of the Eimeria challenge. Therefore, organic selenized yeast supplementation can be recommended to produce selenium-enriched organic broiler chickens. ABSTRACT: A total of 252 one-day-old Ross broilers were randomly allocated to one of six treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement with respective Eimeria challenges (non-infection and infection) and three different selenium (Se) diets. Dietary treatments were as follows: (1) Se un-supplemented control (CON), (2) inorganic Se treatment (SS; 0.3 mg/kg as sodium selenite), and (3) organic Se treatment (SY; 0.3 mg/kg as selenized yeast). Six replicate cages were allocated per treatment. Chickens in the respective Eimeria infection groups were infected with an E. acervulina, E. tenella, and E. maxima oocyst mixture (15,000 oocysts/chicken) on day 16. Growth performance was measured on days 16, 22, and 24. On day 22, intestinal samples were collected from randomly selected chickens to evaluate gut lesion scores, antioxidant enzymes, and tight junction gene expression. Blood, breast, and liver samples were collected to analyze the Se concentrations on day 24. Dietary SY supplementation improved (p < 0.05) the growth performance of the chickens regardless of the Eimeria challenge. Moreover, independent of Eimeria infection, Se supplementation elevated (p < 0.05) the heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX-1) expression in jejunal mucosa at 6 days post-infection (dpi). Duodenal junctional adhesion molecule 2 (JAM-2) expression and jejunal occludin (OCLN) were elevated (p < 0.05) with dietary SY supplementation at 6 dpi. Among Se sources, broiler chickens fed with the SY diet showed higher (p < 0.05) Se concentrations in breast muscle and serum on 8 dpi. These results confirmed the beneficial effects of dietary Se and the efficiency of organic Se compared with inorganic Se for growth improvement and muscle Se enrichment in broiler chickens regardless of coccidiosis infection.