Different sources of maternal selenium affect selenium retention, antioxidant status, and meat quality of 56-day-old offspring of broiler breeders.

The maternal effect of different Se source in offspring of young broiler breeders has been reported, but the lasting maternal effect of different sources of Se on offspring of breeders has received limited attention, so this study was conducted to investigate the effects of different maternal Se sources on Se retention, antioxidant status, and meat quality of 56-d-old offspring of broiler breeders. A total of two hundred forty 39-wk-old Lingnan Yellow broiler breeders were randomly distributed into 2 treatments, each of which was replicated 3 times with 40 birds per replicate, with a 14-d pretreatment and 56-d trial period. The treatments were fed a basal corn-soybean diet (0.04 mg∙kg⁻¹ Se) supplemented with 0.3 mg∙kg⁻¹ sodium selenite (SS) or selenomethionine (Se-Met). Fertile eggs were collected for incubation, after which 180 healthy chicks from each treatment were selected and randomly allocated into 3 replicates, with 60 birds per replicate. All the chicks were fed the same basal diet (0.04 mg∙kg⁻¹ Se) for 56 d. The Se concentrations in serum and tissues (liver, kidney, and breast muscle) of the 56-d-old offspring were significantly (P < 0.01) increased by maternal Se-Met intake compared with maternal SS intake. The antioxidant status of the 56-d-old offspring was greatly improved by maternal Se-Met supplementation in contrast with maternal SS supplementation, which was shown by increased glutathione peroxidase activity in serum and breast muscle (P < 0.01), glutathione concentration in serum (P < 0.05), and total antioxidant capability in pancreas (P < 0.01), as well as cytosolic glutathione peroxidase mRNA abundance in breast muscle, liver (P < 0.01), and pancreas (P < 0.05). The maternal Se-Met treatment was more effective in maintaining the shape of liver and pancreas cells, cell nuclei, chromatin, as well as cell membrane structure, and more organelles were observed in liver cells. The maternal Se-Met treatment had significant (P < 0.05) reduced the 48-h drip loss of 56-d-old offspring in comparison with maternal SS treatment. The results suggest that maternal Se-Met diet is superior to maternal SS diet in increasing Se retention and improving antioxidant status and meat quality of 56-d-old offspring.