Article Citation: Zahra Mohammed Kadhim Al-Jaafari, Saad Mohsen Al-jashamy and Nihad Abdel Latif Ali Influence of organic selenium and nano-selenium particles on broiler chicks (Ross 308) Journal of Research in Ecology (2018) 6(2): 1999-2006

Influence of organic selenium and nano-selenium particles on broiler

chicks (Ross 308)

Keywords: Organic selenium, Selenium nanoparticles, Blood traits, Lymphatic organs, Broiler chicks.

Authors:

Zahra Mohammed

Kadhim Al-Jaafari,

Saad Mohsen Al-Jashamy

and Nihad Abdel Latif Ali

Institution:

Department of Animal

Production, College of

Agriculture, Al-Qasim Green

University, Iraq.

Corresponding author:

Zahra Mohammed

Kadhim Al-Jaafari

Web Address:

http://ecologyresearch.info/

documents/EC0612.pdf

ABSTRACT: This investigation was done in the poultry field of Animal Production Department at the College of Agriculture, Al-Qasim Green University. The effect of organic selenium and nano-selenium on chicks (Ross 308) utilizing 225 one day old unsexed chicks was analyzed. The treatments of the investigation were as per the following: First treatment (control) without including the organic selenium or nano-selenium particles to the feed. Second and third treatment: Organic selenium was added to the feed (0.4 and 0.5 mg.kg-1 feed respectively) and the fourth and fifth treatment: 0.4 and 0.5 mg.kg-1 feed of nano-selenium particles was added to the feed with 45 birds per treatment (each treatment had three replicates i.e. 15 birds per replicate). Various blood parameters and the relative weight of lymphatic organs viz: bursa of fabricia, thymus gland and spleen were analyzed and recorded. The reports demonstrated that there were no significant changes between the experimental factors in the blood traits. For lymphatic organs except control, all other treatments recorded the best relative weight of fabricia and fabricia index, with significant changes (P<0.05). The fifth treatment demonstrated a significant change (P<0.05) in the relative weight of thymus gland compared with control, while there was no significant difference in the relative spleen weight between the treatments.

Dates: Received: 12 July 2018 Accepted: 20 August 2018 Published: 19 Sep 2018

1999-2006| JRE | 2018 | Vol 6 | No 2

This article is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which gives permission for unrestricted use, non-commercial, distribution and reproduction in all medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

An International Scientific Research Journal

Jou

rn

al of R

esearch

in

Ecology

Journal of Research in Ecology

www.ecologyresearch.info

Journal of Research

in Ecology An International

Scientific Research Journal

Original Research

ISSN No: Print: 2319 –1546; Online: 2319– 1554

INTRODUCTION

It is the most important traits that are of interest

to breeders of broiler chicks, which should be available

in the hybrid broiler chicks that showed rapid growth,

optimal consumption of food and benefits such as,

weight gain and the efficiency of food conversion, as

well as the vitality and its resistance to diseases. One of

the new challenges in the poultry industry is to seek

about natural additions of water and feed to improve

poultry production efficiency, especially when the Euro-

pean Union in 2006 prevented the use of growth-

stimulating antibiotics. These additions are mineral ele-

ments, which are essential nutrient elements for the

growth and production of poultry birds such as selenium

that is one of the rare mineral elements of high im-

portance to human and animal health through its associ-

ation with selenocysteine. It is present in many proteins

as selenoprotein which are usually important in en-

zymes that interfere with many metabolic pathways in

the body, including Glutathione peroxidase, which is

present in most of the body tissues (Brown and Arthur,

2001).

Selenium is found in two types: The first repre-

sents organic selenium, which is in the form of selenite

or selenate. The other type is organic selenium, it is

usually found in combination with the amino acids or

with yeast and such as Se-enriched yeast, Selenomethio-

nine. This type is absorbed into the animal body with

high efficiency compared to inorganic diets. In birds fed

on inorganic selenium, the equivalent of 4.25 mg.kg-1

selenium is compared with 22.1 mg.kg-1 organic seleni-

um (Payne and Southern, 2005). Selenium is a very im-

portant component of a healthy immune system and a

good immune response, as it plays a role in increasing

the immune susceptibility of the body (Kim et al.,

2003). Selenium-rich foods enhance the immune re-

sponse in poultry (Beek, 1999). Selenium is an im-

portant component in improving the productive and

reproductive performance of field animals and poultry

birds Mahan (1995) and Surai (2002) reported that 0.1

to 0.5 mg.kg-1 feed of selenium gives great protection to

animals including poultry. Several studies have been

conducted on the effect of dietary supplementation of

selenium in both production and physiological traits.

Payne and Southem (2005) observed in their study of

broiler chicks that there was a significant improvement

in daily weight gain, feed consumption and dietary con-

version efficiency to the treatments that selenium is

added to the it with a concentration of 0.30 ppm com-

pared with the control treatment.

Robert et al. (2008) found significant improve-

ment in the body weight and dietary conversion effi-

ciency in organic selenium treatment with a 0.2 ppm

concentration added to broiler chicks compared with

control the treatment. Visha et al. (2017) found that the

use of organic selenium at a concentration of 0.3 mg.kg-

1 feed led to the significant reduction of

Malondiadehyde (MDA) in serum for broiler chicks

compared to control treatment and treatment containing

inorganic selenium. Nano-selenium has become a new

source of selenium with special properties such as large

surface area, high surface activity, high catalyst effi-

ciency, high absorbability and low toxicity (Wang et al.,

2007) compared to organic and inorganic selenium

(Zhang et al., 2001). which increased the interest on this

element and spread rapidly because of its high biologi-

cal presence (Zhang et al., 2001). However, there have

been few studies of the effect of nano-selenium on poul-

try production and physiological performance,

Mahmoud et al. (2016) studied the effect of nano-

selenium, with a concentration of 0.3 mg.kg-1 feed on

the production performance and on antioxidants and

immunity of broiler chicks subjected to thermal stress.

There was a significant improvement in the

treatment of nano selenium in dietary conversion effi-

ciency, immunological traits, glutathione peroxidase

enzyme, decreased malondiadehyde (MDA) compared

to the control treatment when birds are exposed to tem-

Al-Jaafari et al., 2018

2000 Journal of Research in Ecology (2018) 6(2): 1999-2006

peratures at 35°C. Visha et al. (2017) found significant

reductions in nano-selenium (0.15, 0.3 and 0.6 mg.kg-1

feed) for MDA trait compared to the control treatment

of broiler chicks. Based on the above, this study aimed

to demonstrate the effect of adding two levels of organic

selenium and selenium nanoparticles to the ration on

some blood and lymphatic organs of broiler chicks

(Ross 308). This study is the latest of its kind in Iraq in

the use of nano-selenium molecules in poultry ration.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This experiment was conducted in the poultry

field belonging to the Animal Production Department at

the College of Agriculture, Al-Qasim Green University

for the period from 31/1/2018 to 13/3/2018 using 225

broiler chicks with one day years old chicks (unsex). It

was randomly divided into four treatments with 45 birds

per treatment, each treatment consisted of three repli-

cates (15 birds per replicate). Feed was provided freely

for birds, two feeds were provided viz., initiator ration,

at age of 1-21 days and the end ration, at age of 22 to 42

days as shown in Table 1. The treatments of the experi-

ment were as follows: First treatment (control treat-

ment) without adding the organic selenium or nano-

selenium particles to ration, second and third treatment:

Organic selenium was added to the feed (0.4, 0.5

mg.kg-1 feed) and the fourth and fifth treatment: addi-

tion (0.4, 0.5 mg.kg-1 feed) of nano-selenium particles to

feed. The study included the following traits: red and

white blood cell count, hemoglobin concentration, per-

centage of haematocrit, differential white blood cell

count, the ratio of heterophile cells / lymphocytes cells,

the relative weight of bursa of fabricia, relative index of

bursa of fabricia, relative weight of thymus gland and

the relative weight of spleen. The blood was collected

during the sixth week of the experiment from six birds

of each treatment (2 birds per replicate) randomly and

blood was collected after the slaughter of birds where

container tubes were used on the anticoagulant Potassi-

um EDTA (Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic acid) to pre-

vent blood clotting. Haematocrit was calculated using

special capillary tubes containing a coagulant, as indi-

Al-Jaafari et al., 2018

Journal of Research in Ecology (2018) 6(2): 1999-2006 2001

S. No Feed materials The initiator ration (1-21 day)% The growth ration (22-42 day)%

1 Yellow corn 48.2 58.7

2 Local wheat 8 7.5

3 Soybeans (44% protein) 28.5 20.5

4 Proteins center* 10 10

5 Plant oil 4 2.5

6 Lime stone 1 0.5

7 Food salt 0.3 0.3

Total 100% 100%

The calculated chemical analysis**

8 Representative energy (kCal/kg) 3079 3102.6

9 Crude protein (%) 22.06 19.37

10 Lysine (%) 1.21 1.03

11 Methionine + Cysteine (%) 0.82 0.75

12 Raw fiber 3.54 3.2

13 Calcium (%) 1.2 0.95

14 Phosphorus availability (%) 0.44 0.42

Table 1. The percentage of feed materials in the composition of the initiator ration and the end ration used in

the experiment with the calculated chemical composition of both rations

*A protein center with Belgian origin; one kilogram gives 2200 Kcal of energy with 40% crude protein; 8% fat, 3.5% fiber; 25%

ash; 8% calcium; 1.2% lysine; 1.2% methionine; 1.8% methionine + 70 mg; cysteine 2%; 12 mg folic acid; 120 mg pantothenic

acid; 400 mg niacin; 70 mg iron amalgam; 600 mg copper; 600 μg biotin; 750 mg manganese; 5 mg iodine; 1 mg cobalt and 1 mg

selenium.

**According to the chemical composition as per the analysis of feed materials in NRC (1994).

cated by Archer (1965). Hemoglobin concentration was

estimated, according to Campbell (1995). The number

of red blood cells was estimated according to the meth-

od indicated Natt and Herrick, (1952). White blood cells

was estimated based on Campbell (1995). the ratio of

heterophile cells / lymphocytes cells is assessed using

glass slides where a drop of blood is placed on the glass

slide and carefully spread to another glass slide placed

above the drop of blood and pulled over the first slide at

a 45°C without pressing strongly and leaving to dry for

10 min. The slides are stained with a mixture of Wright-

Giemsa stains according to Shen and Patteron (1983).

The count is done using a light microscope under a

magnification force of 1000 by placing a drop of oil on

the slide according to Burton and Guion (1968) method.

The ratio of heterophile cells / lymphocytes cells is then

calculated. As for the lymphatic organs, they were sepa-

rated from the body at the end of the experiment at the

laboratory of the phaslega (Animal Production Depart-

ment - College of Agriculture, University of Qasim

Green) at six weeks age, which included thymus gland

with all its lobes and on both sides of the neck and bursa

of fabricius and spleen from the carcasses of six birds

for each treatment of experimental treatments after cut-

ting the connective tissue around these organs. It was

weighed by a sensitive balance of four decimal digit. By

calculating the weight of these organs relative to the

weight of the living body according to Lucio and Hitch-

ner (1979) fabricius index was also calculated, it is the

relative weight of the gland in the experimental treat-

ment relative to the relative weight of the gland in the

control treatment, as reported by Lucio and Hitchner

(1979). The complete randomized design was used to

study the effect of different treatments in the studied

traits. The differences between the averages were com-

pared with the use of the Dunkin Multidimensional Test

Duncan (1955) and using SAS Statistical Analysis Pro-

gram (SAS, 2010).

Al-Jaafari et al., 2018

2002 Journal of Research in Ecology (2018) 6(2): 1999-2006

Tra

its

Tre

atm

en

ts

Red

blo

od

cell

s co

un

t

(10

6 /

mm

3 )

Wh

ite

blo

od

cell

s co

un

t

(10

3 /

mm

3 )

Ha

em

ato

crit

(%)

Hem

og

lob

in

(g/1

00 m

L

blo

od

)

Ly

mp

ho

cyte

cell

s

rati

o (

%)

Het

ero

ph

ile

cell

ra

tio

(%)

H/L

ra

tio

S

. N

o

Fir

st t

reat

men

ts

2.3

7±

0.0

37

2

3.4

2±

0.5

83

3

1.4

5±

0.5

58

10

.48±

0.1

85

2

0.8

2±

0.8

67

4

7.1

9±

1.5

16

0

.43

±0

.02

3

1

Sec

ond

tre

atm

ents

2

.37

±0

.02

9

24

.13±

0.8

92

3

0.2

5±

0.3

18

10

.08±

0.1

06

2

0.3

5±

0.6

04

4

9.1

3±

1.7

62

0

.41

±0

.02

6

2

Thir

d t

reat

ments

2

.35

±0

.02

6

22

.71±

0.8

90

3

0.8

2±

0.4

01

1

0.2

7±

0.1

35

2

0.3

9±

1.1

99

5

1.7

2±

1.1

99

0

.39

±0

.01

5

3

Fo

urt

h t

reat

ments

2

.38

±0

.02

0

24

.58±

1.1

81

3

0.6

7±

0.3

04

1

0.2

2±

0.1

00

1

9.3

1±

1.4

59

5

1.5

0±

2.0

42

0

.37

±0

.04

3

4

Fif

th t

reat

men

ts

2.3

6±

0.0

24

2

2.5

5±

1.2

16

3

1.1

5±

0.5

83

1

0.3

8±

0.1

93

2

1.1

5±

0.2

98

5

0.6

9±

0.6

17

0

.41

±0

.00

3

5

Sig

nif

icance

lev

el

N.S

N

.S

N.S

N

.S

N.S

N

.S

N.S

6

Ta

ble

2.

Eff

ect

of

ad

din

g t

wo

lev

els

of

org

an

ic s

elen

ium

an

d n

an

o-s

elen

ium

pa

rtic

les

to t

he

rati

on

on

so

me

blo

od

tra

its

(ari

thm

eti

c m

ean

± s

tan

da

rd e

rro

r)

at

six w

eek

s a

ge.

Fir

st t

reat

men

t (c

on

tro

l):

free

of

any a

dd

itio

n;

Sec

on

d a

nd

th

ird

tre

atm

ent:

Tw

o l

evel

s o

f o

rgan

ic s

elen

ium

wer

e ad

ded

to t

he r

atio

n (

0.4

, 0.5

mg.k

g-1

fee

d),

res

pec

tivel

y;

Tre

atm

ent

4 a

nd

5:

Tw

o l

evel

s o

f n

ano

sel

eniu

m p

arti

cles

wer

e ad

ded

to

th

e ra

tio

n (0

.4, 0

.5 m

g.k

g-1

fee

d),

res

pec

tivel

y.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 2 shows no significant differences be-

tween the groups of birds fed with two levels of organic

selenium and nano-selenium on each of red blood cells

count (106 / mm3 blood), white blood cells count (103 /

mm3 blood), hemoglobin (g/100 ml blood), haematocrit

(%), lymphocyte cells ratio (%), heterophile cell ratio

(%) and the ratio of heterophile cells / lymphocytes cells

(H / L). The results showed that the role of selenium and

nano-selenium molecules in maintaining the stability of

the body functions, and it seems that the concentrations

used were within the limits of natural and did not affect

some of the functions of the body. These results are

consistent with Alidad et al. (2015) which states that

there are no significant differences in the red blood cells

count, haematocrit, hemoglobin and are not consistent

with white blood cell count and the percentage of lym-

phocytes and H/L ratio, which had significant differ-

ences for both treatments of organic selenium and nano-

selenium compared to the control treatments. While the

results of the statistical analysis in the relative weight of

lymphatic organs of body weight (%) in Table 3 showed

significant differences (P<0.05) between experimental

treatments and control treatments at the age of six

weeks. For the relative weight of fabricia, the fourth

treatment (adding nano-selenium with a concentration

of 0.4 mg.kg-1 feed) and the fifth treatment (adding nano

-selenium with a concentration of 0.5 mg.kg-1 feed)

were significantly excelled on the first treatment

(control) and the second treatment (adding organic sele-

nium with a concentration of 0.4 mg.kg-1 feed) by

recording them the highest relative weight of 0.109% in

the body weight respectively. Followed by the third

treatment (the addition of organic selenium at a concen-

tration of 0.5 mg.kg-1 feed), where the relative weight of

this trait amounted of 0.106% in the body weight while

the first treatment and the second treatment recorded the

lowest relative weight of the fabricia of 0.07 and 0.09%

in the body weight respectively. As for the index of the

fabricia gland, it is noted that the second, third, fourth

and fifth treatments significantly (P<0.05) excelled on

the first treatment and the values of this trait were 1.00,

1.31, 1.45, 1.49, 1.48% in the body weight, respectively.

As for the relative weight of thymus gland, the fifth

treatment was significantly excelled on the first treat-

ment (control) by recording it 0.71% in the body

weight. The second, third, and fourth treatments record-

ed the values 0.66, 0.66 and 0.68% in the body weight

respectively. Without having significant differences

between them and the first treatment on the one hand

and the fifth treatment on the other, there were no sig-

nificant differences in the relative weight of spleen be-

tween the addition of selenium and nano-selenium to the

ration compared to the first treatment (control) which

recorded the relative weights viz., 0.10, 0.09, 0.10, 0.11

and 0.10% for the first, second, third, fourth and fifth

Al-Jaafari et al., 2018

Journal of Research in Ecology (2018) 6(2): 1999-2006 2003

Traits

Treatments

Relative weight of

bursa of fabricia

(%)

Relative index of

bursa of fabricia

(%)

Relative weight of

thymus gland

(%)

The relative

weight of spleen

(%)

S. No

First treatments 0.07±0.003c 1.00±0b 0.58±0.016b 0.10±0.003 1

Second treatments 0.09±0.007b 1.31±0.113a 0.66±0.021ab 0.09±0.005 2

Third treatments 0.106±0.001ab 1.45±0.079a 0.66±0.31ab 0.10±0.002 3

Fourth treatments 0.109±0.000a 1.49±0.074a 0.68±0.058ab 0.11±0.012 4

Fifth treatments 0.109±0.001a 1.48±0.083a 0.71±0.028a 0.10±0.000 5

Significance level * * * N.S 6

Table 3. Effect of adding two levels of organic selenium and nano-selenium particles to the ration on lymphatic

organs (arithmetic mean±standard error) at six weeks age

* The averages with different letters within the same column differ significantly (P<0.05) between them; First treatment (control):

free of any addition; Second and third treatment: two levels of organic selenium were added to the ration (0.4 and 0.5 mg.kg-1 feed

respectively); Fourth and fifth treatment: two levels of nano-selenium particles were added to the ration (0.4 and 0.5 mg.kg-1 feed

respectively).

treatments respectively. The relative weight of fabricia

and the relative index of the gland in the selenium and

nano-selenium treatments as well as the relative im-

provement in the relative weight of thymus gland for the

fifth treatment of nano-selenium compared to the first

treatment to role of selenium and nano-selenium as an

effective oxidative agent known as free radicals and

thus maintain the metabolic processes in the body and

continue to maintain vital functions. It is also maintain-

ing the physical balance of the body the enjoyment of

birds health, safety from diseases and also has a role in

improving the efficiency of immune system (Sevcikova

et al., 2006). It also contributes the synthesis of the glu-

tathione peroxidase (Mills, 1957), which shows that

selenium and nanoparticles have worked to provide im-

munity to birds and raise the immune response by ob-

serving the improvement in the values of the immune

organs (lymphocytes) compared to birds that did not

feed on these substances. Bumstead et al. (1993) noted

that the evolution of the immune system in the bird

body can be determined by the knowledge of the weight

and index of the fabricia gland, as they are one of the

important measurements of the immunity in the body

and that the high values of the guide and the relative

weight of the fabricia gland are a good indicator of the

birds body with high immunity, and low relative weight

of the gland less than 0.7 which indicates the lack of

effectiveness of the gland to do its work because of the

vulnerability and inertia. The results of this study agreed

with Mahmoud et al. (2016), who showed a significant

improvement in the weight of fabrica and thymus gland

in the treatment of nano selenium with a concentration

of 0.3 mg.kg-1 feed compared to the control treatment,

while the weight of the spleen had not shown significant

difference between the experimental treatments. Our

results did not agree with Cai et al. (2012), who did not

notice any significant differences between the nano-

selenium treatments and the control treatment in the

weight of lymphatic organs (spleen, fabricia and thymus

gland) for broiler chicks with 42 days age. The results

of this experiment were also not consistent with the

study of Rao et al. (2013), who did not observe any sig-

nificant differences between organic selenium treat-

ments and control treatment in the weight of lymphatic

organ (spleen, fabricia and thymus gland) for broiler

chicks with 42 days age.

CONCLUSION

It is concluded from the present experiment that

the addition of organic selenium and selenium nanopar-

ticles to the ration can improve the immunity of the

broiler chicks.

REFERENCES

Alidad B, Ali AS, Seyed NM, Mohamad C and Nas-

ser K. 2015. The effects of organic, inorganic and nano-

selenium on blood attributes in broiler chickens exposed

to oxidative stress. Acta Scientiae Veterinariae, 43:1-6.

Archer RK. 1965. Haematological techniques for use

on animals. Oxford Book Scientific Publications. 135 p.

Beek MA. 1999. Selenium and host defense toward

viruses. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 58(3):707-

711.

Brown KM and Arthur JR. 2001. Selenium, seleno-

protein and human health: a review. Public Health

Nutrition, 4(2B): 593-599.

Bumstead N, Reece RL and Cook JA. 1993. Genetic

differences in succeptibility of chicken lines with infec-

tions bursal disease virus. Poultry Science, 72(3): 403-

410.

Burton RR and Guion CW. 1968. The differential

leukocyte blood count: its precision and individuality in

the chicken. Poultry Science, 47(6): 1945-1949.

Cai SJ, Wu CX, Gong LM, Song T, Wu H and

Zhang LY. 2012. Effects of nano-selenium on perfor-

Al-Jaafari et al., 2018

2004 Journal of Research in Ecology (2018) 6(2): 1999-2006

mance, meat quality, immune function, oxidation re-

sistance and tissue selenium content in broilers. Poultry

Science, 91(10): 2532-2539.

Campbell TW. 1995. Avian hematology and cytology.

2nd ed. Iowa State University Press, Ames. 118 p.

Duncan BD. 1955. Multiple range and multiple F-test.

Biometrics, 11: 1-42.

Kim YY and Mahan DC. 2003. Biological aspects of

selenium in farm animals. Asian-Australasian Journal

of Animal Sciences, 16(3): 435-444.

Lucio B and Hitchner SB. 1979. Response of suscepti-

ble versus immune chicks to killed, live-modified and

wild infectious bursal disease virus vaccines. Avian

Diseases, 23(4): 1037-1049.

Mahan DC. 1995. Selenium metabolism in animals :

what role does selenium yeast have? In: TP. Lyons and

KA. Jacques eds. biotechnology in the feed industry,

Nottingham, Nottingham United Press, UK. 257-267 p.

Mahmoud HE, Daichi I, Tarek AE and Akira O.

2016. Effects of dietary nano-selenium supplementation

on growth performance antioxidative status and immun-

ity in broiler chickens under thermoneutral and high

ambient temperature conditions. The Journal of Poultry

Science, 53(4): 274-283.

Mills GC. 1957. Hemoglobin catabolism I. glutathione

peroxidase, an erythrocyte enzyme which protect hae-

moglobin from oxidative breakdown. The Journal of

Biological Chemistry, 229(1): 189-197.

Natt MP and Herrick CA. 1952. A new blood diluent

for counting the erythrocytes and leucocytes of the

chicken. Poultry Science, 31(4): 735-738.

[NRC] National Research Council. 1994. Nutrient

requirement of poultry then. National

Academy press. Washington. D. C. USA. Available

from: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/2114/nutrient-

requirements-of-poultry-ninth-revised-edition-1994.

Payne RL and Southern LL. 2005. Comparison of

inorganic and organic selenium sources of broilers.

Poultry Science, 84(6): 898-902.

Rao SVR, Bhukya P, Mantena VLNR, Arun KP,

Saharia P and Orugonda KM. 2013. Effect of supple-

menting organic selenium on performance, carcass

traits, oxidative parameters and immune responses in

commercial broiler chickens. Asian-Australasian

Journal of Animal Sciences, 26(2): 247-252.

Robert JU, Frank WE and Peter RF. 2008. Selenium

yeast effect on broiler performance. International

Journal of Poultry Science, 7(8): 798-805.

SAS. 2010. SAS/ STAT users guide for personal com-

puters release 9.1 SAS. Institute Inc. Cary and N.C

USA.

Sevcikova S, Skrivan M, Dlouha G and Koucky M.

2006. The effect of selenium source on the performance

and meat quality of broiler chickens. Czech Journal of

Animal Science, 51(10): 449-457.

Shen PF and Patterson LT. 1983. A simplified wright

stain technique for routine avian blood smear staining.

Poultry Science, 62(5): 923-924.

Surai PF. 2002. Selenium in poultry nutrition 1. Anti-

oxidant properties, deficiency and toxicity. World’s

Poultry Science Journal, 58(3): 333-347.

Visha P, Nanjappan K, Selvaraj P, Jayachandran S

and Thavasiappan V. 2017. Influence of dietary

nano-selenium supplementation on the meat characteris-

tics of broiler chickens. International Journal of

Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 6(5): 340-

347.

Wang H, Zhang J and Yu H. 2007. Elemental seleni-

Al-Jaafari et al., 2018

Journal of Research in Ecology (2018) 6(2): 1999-2006 2005

um at nano size possesses lower toxicity without com-

promising the fundamental effect on selenoenzymes:

Comparison with selenomethionine in mice. Free

Radical Biology and Medicine, 42(10): 1524-1533.

Zhang JS, Gao XY, Zhang LD and Bao YP. 2001.

Biological effects of a nano red elemental selenium.

Biofactors, 15(1): 27-38.

Al-Jaafari et al., 2018

2006 Journal of Research in Ecology (2018) 6(2): 1999-2006

Submit your articles online at ecologyresearch.info

Advantages

Easy online submission Complete Peer review Affordable Charges Quick processing Extensive indexing You retain your copyright

submit@ecologyresearch.info

www.ecologyresearch.info/Submit.php.