The Effect of Organic Selenium Supplementation on the Broilersʹʹ Immune Response

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of organic selenium supplementation on the immune re-sponse of broilers vaccinated against coccidiosis, Infection Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) and Newcastle Diseases Virus (NDV). The study included three treatments (T), T1= control (inclusion of inorganic sele-nium in a basal diet), T2= basal diet + 0.2 ppm of organic selenium as selenomethionine and selenocys-teine, T3= basal diet + 0.4 ppm of organic selenium as selenomethionine and selenocysteine. Birds supple-mented with organic selenium showed higher numbers of CD3+ cells in duodenum and less severe ileal lesions compared to birds in the control group. Organic selenium supplementation in the diet had no signifi-cant, except for 14 to 21 days of age, effect on broiler weight gain.