EFFECTS OF VARYING DIETARY LEVELS OF NANO SELENIUM ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, GUT MORPHOLOGY, HAEMATOLOGY, IMMUNITY AND CARCASS PARAMETERS OF BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

This study determined the effects of supplementation of dietary nano Selenium on growth performance, meat quality, haematological, immunity, serum biochemistry and gut morphology of broiler chickens. A total of 200 1-day old Arbor acre broiler birds were distributed into five treatments using a completely randomized design. Each treatment had four replicates with 10 birds per replicate. Treatment 1 served as the control which had 0 level of nano Se and tagged NSe0.00. Treatments 2,3,4 and 5 had 0.10, 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25 mg/kg of nano Se and were tagged NSe0.10, NSe0.15, NSe0.20 and NSe0.25 respectively. Data on growth performance, meat quality, haematological, blood serum, immunity and gut morphology were taken. They were analysed using one way analysis of variance and means separated using Least Significant Differences (LSD) where significant. Results of the study showed that the supplementation of dietary nano Se at 0.25 mg/kg improved (P<0.05) the Body Weight Gain, BWG (990.32 g) and Feed Conversion Ratio, FCR (1.93) compared to the control (684.73 g) and (2.63) respectively at the starter phase of the experiment. Birds fed 0.25 mg/kg dietary nano Se supplemented diets had higher (P<0.05) BWG (1339.78 g) and better FCR (1.94) compared to birds fed the basal diet having BWG (958.01 g) and FCR (2.60) respectively at the grower phase of the study. Similarly, birds fed diets supplemented with 0.25 mg/kg dietary nano Se had improved (P<0.05) BWG (2262.84 g) as compared to the control (1881.50 g) at 0 – 7 weeks of the study. Supplementation of dietary nano Se at 0.25 mg/kg have a better (P<0.05) dressing percentage (74.87 %) than the control (57.42 %). Supplementation of nano Se at 0.20 mg/kg have a better (P<0.05) Dry Matter, DM values at both starter (89.02) and finisher (89.65) phases compared to birds fed the control diet (79.21) and (81.51) respectively. Furthermore, birds fed NSe0.20 supplemented diet have a better (P<0.05) cooking loss value (2.14) compared to birds fed the basal diet (6.05). Similarly, birds fed NSe0.20 had their meat more acceptable (2.50) compared to the control group (1.00). Furthermore, better (P<0.05) WHC values at both 0 (4.02) and 24 (2.41) hours after slaughter were recorded for birds fed 0.25 mg/kg nano Se supplemented diets compared to those recorded for birds fed the basal diets at 0 (0.42) and 24 (0.23) hours after slaughter. The RBC (7.30) and WBC (5.35) of birds fed 0.20 mg/kg dietary nano Se were improved (P<0.05) compared to those birds fed the basal diet (5.95) and (4.05) respectively. The urea (4.37) of birds fed dietary 0.25 mg/kg nano Se were improved (P<0.05) compared to the control (6.30) while the birds fed 0.20 mg/kg nano Se supplemented diets had improved (P<0.05) Ig A (1.82) as compared to those fed the control diet (2.62). Better (P<0.05) crypt depth was recorded for birds fed 0.25 mg/kg nano Se (74.45) compared to birds fed the basal diet diet (64.29). It can be concluded that the supplementation of nano Se at 0.25 mg/kg in the diets of Arbor acre broiler birds could improve their growth performance, meat quality, haematological, immunity and gut morphology.