Effect of Organic Selenium and Lycopene Addition of A Diet Enriched with Flaxseed Oil on Performance, Carcass, Blood Lipid Profile, Lipid Traits in The Muscle and Antioxidant Property of Rabbits

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The present study aimed to investigate the performance development, antioxidative status, immunological effects, muscle n-3 and n-6 fatty acids resulting from supplemented the flaxseed oil diets of growing V-line rabbits with lycopene and / or organic selenium during Egyptian summer season. Sixty growing V-line rabbits of both sexes, 5 weeks old, with initial weights of 781.0 ± 23.85 g were used for the study. The rabbits were randomly allocated to five treatments groups of 12 rabbits each. Each treatment was further sub-divided into 4 replicates of 3 rabbits. Group I – fed a pelleted basal diet with standard components (control group), group II – fed a pelleted diet with 2% flaxseed oil, group III – fed a pelleted diet with 2% flaxseed oil and 0.25 mg/kg diet organic selenium Sel-plex, group IV – fed a pelleted diet with 2% flaxseed oil and 110 mg lycopene/ kg diet , group VI – fed a pelleted diet with 2% flaxseed oil plus 0.25 mg/kg diet organic selenium Sel-plex® and 110 mg lycopene/ kg diet. The results showed that different experimental treatments had insignificant effect on growth performance and carcass traits. Serum total lipids, total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein significantly (P ≤ 0.05) decreased due to different experimental diets, however, high density lipoprotein concentration and HDL/LDL ratio were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased in comparison with the control group. Exposing growing rabbits to high temperature conditions during summer season resulted in significant decrease (P ≤ 0.001) in serum total antioxidant capacity and elevated (P ≤ 0.05) serum malondialdehyde (MDA) which was obtained in the control group, however, including flaxseed oil or flaxseed oil plus different feed additives used in the present study appeared to antagonize the effect of high temperature during summer. The n-3 fatty acids were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased by feeding flaxseed oil, flaxseed oil plus organic selenium, flaxseed oil plus 110 mg lycopene and mix of flaxseed oil plus organic selenium and 110 mg lycopene treatments, while the n-6 fatty acids were increased significantly by feeding flaxseed oil plus organic selenium, flaxseed oil plus 110 mg lycopene and mix of flaxseed oil plus organic selenium and 110 mg lycopene treatment. In conclusion, the addition of flaxseed oil with organic selenium or lycopene could be recommendable to increase n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in rabbit meats, providing a healthier and functional rabbit meat to consumer.