A study was conducted to determine the effect of dietary selenium (Se) concentration and source for weanling pigs on serum Se, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity and performance. A total of 120 weanling pigs with an average weight of 6.87 ± 0.4 kg were assigned to 4 diets with 10 pigs per cage and 3 replicates per treatment. The experimental diets were fed for 28 days in 2 phases (phase 1, d 0–14; and phase 2, d 15–28). Treatments were: Control (without Se supplementation), sodium selenite (INO; 0.30 ppm), hot melt extruded sodium selenite (HME; 0.30 ppm), and selenomethionine (ORG; 0.3 ppm). There were significant responses (P < 0.05) for higher serum Se concentration in the HME and ORG treatments in phase 1 and 2. The serum GPx analyses revealed that supplemental HME and ORG significantly increased the concentration of GPx in the serum in phase 1 and phase 2. There was an up-regulated (P < 0.01) expression of Selenoprotein W, GPx1, GPx3, GPx4, and GPx5 in the livers of the HME and ORG pigs. In conclusion, the HME and ORG Se showed increased antioxidant status, consequently being a more suitable source of Se than regular sodium selenite.
Read full abstract