Effect of selenium and vitamin E content of the maternal diet on the antioxidant system of the yolk and the developing chick

1. The effects of selenium and vitamin E supplementation of the maternal di et on their transfer to the egg yolk and tissues of the newly hatched chick and on the development of the antioxidant system in the chick liver in ear ly postnatal life were investigated. 2. One hundred Cobb broiler breeder hens were divided into 10 equal groups and housed in pens at 25 weeks of age. Each hen received 1 of the treatment diet which included 0.2 or 0.4 mg/kg selenium, 40, 100, 200 mg/kg vitamin E or their combination. After 6 weeks, the hens M-ere artificially insemina ted once per week. From week 8, eggs were collected and placed in an incuba tor. After hatching, chicks from each group were reared (under standard com mercial conditions) to 10d of age. The chicks were fed on a standard starte r commercial broiler diet. At the time of hatching, and at 5 and 10 days ol d, 4 chicks from each group were sacrificed and blood, liver and brain were collected for the subsequent biochemical analyses. 3. The inclusion of organic selenium or vitamin E in the commercial diet si gnificantly increased their concentration in the egg and in the Liver of 1- d-old chicks obtained from the eggs enriched with these substances. A posit ive effect of such dietary supplementation was seen at d 5 and d 10 of post natal development. 4.There was a positive effect of selenium supplementation of the maternal d iet on glutathione concentration in the liver of 1-d-old and 5-d-old chicks . A combination of a dietary selenium supplementation with high vitamin E d oses further increased glutathione concentration in the liver Dietary selen ium supplementation significantly increased selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase (Se-GSH-Px) activity in the liver of the 1-d-old and 5-d-old chi cks and decreased liver susceptibility to peroxidation. 6. It is concluded that the nutritional status of the laying hen determines the efficiency of the antioxidant system throughout embryonic and early po stnatal development of the offspring.