Effect of Inorganic and Nano Selenium Supplementation on Growth Performance and Nutrient Utilization in Growing Hariana Heifers

The present study was conducted to see the effect of inorganic selenium (ISe) and nano selenium (NSe) supplementation on growth performance and nutrient utilization in Hariana heifers. A total of 18 Hariana heifers were selected and allocated into three groups having six heifers in each group and fed treatment diet for 90 days. In present study, control (Con) group was not supplemented with any extra amount of Se other than present in the basal diet, T1 group was supplemented with inorganic Se @ 0.3 mg/kg of dry matter(DM) offered, while T2 group was supplemented with nano Se @ 0.3 mg/kg of DM offered. Basal diet offered to experimental groups containing 50% concentrate, 35% green jowar fodder and 15% wheat straw. DM was offered to all experimental group at about 3.5% of the body weight of animals. All groups of animals were fed with basal diet having same levels of nutrients. Body weight (BW) and dry matter intake (DMI) were recorded fortnightly. DMI (kg/day), DMI (kg/100kg BW),total digestible nutrients(TDN) intake (g/kg W^0.75) and digestible crude protein (DCP) intake (g/kg W^0.75) remained similar in all experimental groups. Nutrient digestibility and digestible nutrient intake were not impacted by supplementation of different levels of Ise and NSe supplementation to all treatment groups. Average fortnight body weight gain, average daily gain (ADG), metabolic body weight gain was similar in all groups. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) were not significantly different between treatment and control group. So, it can be finally concluded that supplementation of Se either from inorganic or by nano source did not exert any adverse effect on growth performance and nutrient utilization.