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Alleviating the environmental heat burden on laying hens by feeding on diets enriched with certain antioxidants (vitamin E and selenium) individually or combined

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Abstract

The present study was designed to alleviate the negative biohazards of high ambient temperature on the productive performance and physiological status of laying hens. A total of 135 Bovans laying hens were distributed into nine groups in a 3 × 3 factorial design experiment. Basal diet was supplemented with vitamin E at levels of 0, 250, and 500 mg /kg diet. Within each dietary vitamin E level, each diet was supplemented with sodium selenite as a source of selenium (Se) to supply 0, 0.25, and 0.50 mg Se/kg diet. Results showed that supplementing layer’s diet with 500 mg vitamin E/kg was accompanied with the lowest feed consumption (FC) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The interaction among vitamin E and Se levels exerted significant effects only on FC and FCR. Insignificant differences were observed in egg quality criteria due to the treatments studied. Increasing vitamin E level was associated with a gradual decrease in basophil count and an increase in monocytes. A gradual decrease in the count of each of heterophils, monocytes, and eosinophils was observed with the elevation in the dietary Se level. The combination among vitamin E and Se levels produced a significant effect on all hematological parameters studied. As vitamin E increased, a marked decrease in serum AST and a gradual increase in total lipids, total cholesterol, and calcium were observed. As the level of dietary Se increased, serum total protein, albumin, T4, total cholesterol, and total lipids increased. No significant impacts were detected for the interaction among vitamin E and Se levels on any of blood constituents determined except serum globulin, ALT, and calcium. In conclusion, the combination between vitamin E and Se showed a good ability to alleviate the harmful impacts of heat stress and produced the highest productive performance when compared with the other groups, which exhibit the synergistic effect between the two antioxidants.

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Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate and thank the College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, Agriculture Research Center and Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, for supporting this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Poultry, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44511, Egypt

    Mohamed E. Abd El-Hack & Khalid Mahrose

  2. Department of Animal Production, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Islam M. Saadeldin

  3. Department of Animal Sciences, University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, 40100, Pakistan

    Muhammad Arif

  4. Institute of Animal Nutrition, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China

    Maria Tabassum Chaudhry

  5. Institute of Animal Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan

    Muhammad Saeed, Rab Nawaz Soomro & Imtiaz Hussain Raja Abbasi

  6. College of Animal Sciences, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China

    Muhammad Saeed

  7. Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

    Zaib Ur Rehman

Authors
  1. Mohamed E. Abd El-Hack
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  2. Khalid Mahrose
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  3. Muhammad Arif
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  4. Maria Tabassum Chaudhry
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  5. Islam M. Saadeldin
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  7. Rab Nawaz Soomro
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  8. Imtiaz Hussain Raja Abbasi
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  9. Zaib Ur Rehman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohamed E. Abd El-Hack.

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All the experimental procedures were carried out according to the Local Experimental Animal Care Committee and approved by the ethics of the institutional committee. Birds were cared for using husbandry guidelines derived from Zagazig University standard operating procedures.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Abd El-Hack, M.E., Mahrose, K., Arif, M. et al. Alleviating the environmental heat burden on laying hens by feeding on diets enriched with certain antioxidants (vitamin E and selenium) individually or combined. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 10708–10717 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8690-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8690-5

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