Effect of supplementation of different levels and combinations of selenium and vitamin e on broiler chicken performance, immune response, meat selenium and vitamin E concentration

In present experiment, 210,one day old commercial broiler chicks (42 replicates with 5 chicks in each) were randomly allotted to 6 treatments (2*3 factorial design) to investigate the effect of different combinations of selenium (Se) (0.15 or 0.3 mg/kg) and vitamin E (VE) (50, 100 or 200 mg/kg diet) on performance, immune response, and Se and VE deposition in the meat. Birds’ performance, carcass traits (42 d) and humoral immune response (antibody titres against Newcastle disease vaccine) (on day 35) were comparable among the dietary treatments. Increased Se supplementation, improved (P<0.01) the relative weight of bursa. Higher dietary Se and VE levels improved (P<0.01) the cell mediated immune response (against phytohemagglutinin-P) on day 40. Se deposition in breast and thigh meat and VE in thigh meat was increased (P<0.01) with higher levels of Se (0.30 mg/kg) and VE (200 mg/kg) supplementation. The VE deposition was increased (P<0.01) in breast meat with increased VE supplementation. It can be concluded that, broiler chicken meat can be enriched with inclusion of 0.30 mg/kg Se and 200 mg/kg VE in broilers diet without affecting bird's performance. Further, immune response of birds was improved due to supplementation of higher levels of Se and VE.