Effects of nano-selenium (nano-Se) and stocking density (SD) on growth performance, carcass yield, meat quality, and feathering score of broilers were investigated in this study. One-day-old 480 broiler chickens (45.32.4 g body weight) (Ross 308) were randomly divided into 4 treatments each comprising of 8 replicates. In the experiment, treatments consisted of a 2 2 factorial arrangement of dietary Se form (inorganic or nano) and SD (low = 12 birds/m2; LSD, and high = 18 birds/m2; HSD). No interaction was noted between Se form and SD for any trait. Nano-Se had no effect on growth performance, however, HSD decreased the body weight gain (BWG) (P0.05) and feed intake (FI) (P0.001) while feed conversion ratio (FCR) was unaffected. Neither nano-Se nor HSD had any effect on the relative carcass, breast, and thigh yields. Nano-Se improved the water-holding capacity (WHC) of breast meat 72-hpost-mortem (P0.05). However, pH, colour, and cooking loss of meat remained unaffected by Se form or SD. There were no differences between nano- or inorganic Se and LSD or HSD regarding feathering scores for back and wing. In conclusion, dietary nano-Se improved the WHC and had no significant effect on other parameters. In addition, HSD may negatively affect the growth performance.
The authors are thankful to the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) to finance the project (No. 117O848).
117O848
117O848
Primary Language | English |
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Subjects | Veterinary Surgery |
Journal Section | Research Article |
Authors | |
Project Number | 117O848 |
Publication Date | December 30, 2022 |
Published in Issue | Year 2023 |