title: Effect of selenium supplementation on performance, cost economics, and biochemical profile of Nellore ram lambs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Present experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of selenium (Se) supplementation on performance, carcass characteristics, meat composition, shelflife of meat and biochemical profile in Nellore ram lambs.
  
  
  METHODS
  24 male Nellore ram lambs (15.75±0.47 kg) were randomly divided into four dietary groups with six lambs in each and reared under uniform management conditions for 120 days. Basal diet was not supplemented with Se and consisted of green fodder (Se 0.09 mg/kg dry matter [DM]), dry roughage (Se 0.11 mg/kg DM) and concentrate mixture (Se 0.019 mg/kg DM) and fed individually. Dietary treatments were prepared by adding graded levels Se (0, 0.45, 0.9, and 1.8 ppm) to concentrate mixture (1% body weight [BW]) from sodium selenite. Feed offered and refusal measured daily; and BWs were measured at fortnight interval to find out average daily gain (g), feed conversion ratio (FCR), cost economics and plane of nutrition. Serum biochemical profile (concentration of glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, cholesterol, and hemoglobin) was assessed on 0, 60(th), and 120(th) day. At the end of experiment, the carcass characteristics (dressing percentage, cut-up parts, meat to bone ratio) and meat chemical composition were evaluated. Meat keeping (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) quality from different groups was evaluated on day 0, 3, and 6 post-slaughter.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dietary Se supplementation did not show any effect on weight gain, FCR, cost economics, plane of nutrition, and serum biochemical profile in Nellore ram lambs. However, Se supplemented lambs had numerically higher weight gain than the unsupplemented lambs. Similarly, carcass characteristics and keeping quality were comparable among the four treatments. However, numerical increase in post-slaughter keeping quality with increasing Se supplementation was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It can be concluded that supplementation of Se in the form of sodium selenite (inorganic source) at different levels did not influence animal performance in growing Nellore ram lambs had no effect on lamb performance, cost economics, carcass characteristics, and serum biochemical profile.
authors.affiliation: Department of Instructional Livestock Farm Complex, College of Veterinary Science, S. V. Veterinary University, Hyderabad - 500 030, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sushma
authors.affiliation: International Livestock Research Institute, Patancheru, Hyderabad - 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Y Ramana
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Science, S. V. Veterinary University, Hyderabad - 500 030, Telengana, India.
authors.forename: N Nalini
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Kumari
authors.affiliation: National Research Council on Meat, Chengicherla, Hyderabad - 500 092, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: P Baswa
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Instructional Livestock Farm Complex, College of Veterinary Science, S. V. Veterinary University, Hyderabad - 500 030, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Raghunandan
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Science, S. V. Veterinary University, Hyderabad - 500 030, Telengana, India.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sridhar
keywords: Nellore ram lambs; biochemical profile; carcass characteristics; performance; selenium supplementation