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Effects of dietary selenium and vitamin E on immune response and biological blood parameters of broilers reared under thermoneutral or heat stress conditions

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Abstract

A study was conducted using 360 broiler chickens to evaluate the effects of dietary vitamin E (0, 125 and 250 mg/kg), selenium (Se, 0, 0.5 and 1 mg/kg), or their different combinations on immune response and blood biological parameters of broilers raised under either thermoneutral (TN, 23.9 °C constant) or heat stress (HS, 23.9 to 37 °C cycling) conditions. Humoral immunity was assessed by intravenous injection of 7 % sheep red blood cell (SRBC) followed by evaluation of serum for antibody titers in primary and secondary responses. Heterophil to lymphocyte (H/L) ratio also determined as an indicator of stress. Furthermore, at the end of the experiment, birds were bled for determination of some biological parameters. There was a significant reduction in body weight and feed intake, but the feed conversion ratio increased when the birds were exposed to HS (P < 0.05). Body weight and feed intake were not influenced significantly by dietary vitamin E and Se (P > 0.05), whereas feed conversion was improved significantly by 125 mg/kg vitamin E (P < 0.05). The liver and lymphoid organ weights as well as IgM and IgG, antibody titers for primary and secondary antibody responses to SRBC were reduced significantly under HS (P < 0.05). Heat stress also resulted in a significant increase in H/L ratio (P < 0.05). Dietary vitamin E resulted in improvement of primary and secondary antibody responses both in TN and HS broilers (P < 0.05). The HS birds also showed an improved antibody titer in secondary response with high concentration of Se (P < 0.05). Vitamin E and Se had interactive effects on anti-SRBC titers; however, no consistent differences were found between dietary levels during the study. The H/L ratio decreased by feeding vitamin E at both levels either under HS or TN conditions (P < 0.05). The serum concentrations of glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol were increased but serum HDL-cholesterol decreased in HS broilers (P < 0.05).

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by Razi University. We thank Ebrahim Khormali for excellent technical assistance (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Iran).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

    Mahmood Habibian, Shahab Ghazi, Mohammad Mehdi Moeini & Alireza Abdolmohammadi

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  1. Mahmood Habibian
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  2. Shahab Ghazi
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  3. Mohammad Mehdi Moeini
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  4. Alireza Abdolmohammadi
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Correspondence to Mahmood Habibian.

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Habibian, M., Ghazi, S., Moeini, M.M. et al. Effects of dietary selenium and vitamin E on immune response and biological blood parameters of broilers reared under thermoneutral or heat stress conditions. Int J Biometeorol 58, 741–752 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0654-y

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