The impact of organic and inorganic selenium on the immune system of growing broilers submitted to immune stimulation and heat stress

Abstract

One to 42-d-old (432) female broilers were fed different levels of inorganic selenium (ISe) and organic selenium (OSe), according to the following treatments: (1) 0.3 mg ISe; (2) 0.3 mg ISe + 0.2 mg OSe; (3) 0.5 mg ISe and (4) 0.3 mg OSe/ kg of feed. All birds were vaccinated against infectious bursal disease (IBD) at 19d of age and three birds/replicate (R) were inoculated with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) at 32d. Three other birds/R received Freund’s adjuvant at 37d and avian tuberculin (AT) in the wattle at 47d of age. All birds were submitted to heat stress after 21d. Performance parameters, bursa and spleen weights, lymphocyte bursa depletion, antibody (Ab) production against IBD and SRBC, hematocrit, leukocytes, heterophil/lymphocyte ratio (H/L), and cellular reaction to AT were evaluated. The contrast analysis showed that OSe has improved feed intake (FI) between day 1 and 42 (p<0.10). Birds fed ISe presented worse H/L ratio (p<0.10), but higher Ab titers against IBD (p<0.04) and SRBC (p<0.05) than birds fed OSe, but OSe supplemented birds showed lower lymphocyte depletion scores in the bursa. The higher FI promoted by OSe may be beneficial when rearing broilers in hot weather. The use of ISe induced higher humoral immune response.