Comparative effects of sodium selenite and selenomethionine upon nutritional muscular dystrophy, selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase, and tissue selenium concentrations of turkey poults.

Day-old poults from hens depleted of Se were fed low-Se basal diets (containing corn, soybean meal, and torula yeast but no added vitamin E) with graded levels of Se supplied by Na2SeO3 or seleno-DL-methionine for 28 and 35 days in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Adding .04 ppm Se to the basal diet significantly increased body weight and reduced both the incidence of gizzard myopathy and plasma glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (PGOT) activity. Further plasma Se and Se-dependent glutathione peroxidase (SeGSHpx) were elevated by increasing levels of dietary Se. There were no differences in these parameters due to the Se compound fed. Plasma SeGSHpx was significantly correlated with both dietary and plasma Se levels. Poults fed selenomethionine had significantly higher concentrations of Se in the gizzard, breast muscle, and pancreas, but not in the liver and heart, compared to poults fed Na2SeO3. These studies indicate that the utilization of Se in both Na2SeO3 and selenomethionine is approximately equal in young turkey poults.