Comparison the Effect of Adding Organic and Inorganic Selenium to the Diet on Fertility and Hatchability Traits of Lohman Hens

Abstract

This study was conducted at the Poultry Farm, Department of Animal Resources, College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad, during the period from 21 / 2 / 2013 to 7 / 9 / 2013. The aim of this experiment was to compare the effect of supplementation of organic and inorganic selenium to the diet on fertility and hatchability traits of Lohman hens.A total of 210 bird, (147) females and (63) males of Lohman Brown, (20) weeks old were used in this study. Birds were reared during experimental period at the cages, and at 22 weeks old of age, birds were randnomly distributed into 7 treatment groups (3 replicates for females and 3 replicates for males in each treatment group, so each treatment group consisted of 21 femals and 9 males. Control group T1 were fed on basal diet, and inorganic selenium (sodium selenite) were supplemented treatments, T2, T3 and T4 with 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 mg / kg feed respectively, and organic selenium (sel-plex) were supplemented to treatments, T5, T6 and T7 with 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 mg / kg feed respectively. Supplementation of organic selenium (sel-plex) and inorganic selenium (sodium selenite) was used from (22) weeks of age until the end of the experiment, at (39) weeks old, Artificial insemination was carried out a month for four months.The results showed that there was significant improvement in fertility and hatchability traits which include percentage of fertility, hatchability of (fertile eggs or total eggs) and percentage of embryonic mortality,with superiority of the effect of supplementation of organic selenium compared with inorganic selenium. T6 (0.5 mg / organic selenium sel-plex / kg feed) recorded the best results with respect in traits included in this study as compared with other treatment of selenium.