title: Alleviating the environmental heat burden on laying hens by feeding on diets enriched with certain antioxidants (vitamin E and selenium) individually or combined.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Poultry, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44511, Egypt. m.ezzat@zu.edu.eg.
authors.forename: Mohamed E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Abd El-Hack
authors.affiliation: Department of Poultry, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44511, Egypt.
authors.forename: Khalid
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mahrose
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences, University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, 40100, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arif
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Nutrition, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Maria Tabassum
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Chaudhry
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Production, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Islam M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Saadeldin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.|College of Animal Sciences, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Rab Nawaz
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Soomro
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Imtiaz Hussain Raja
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Zaib Ur
authors.initials: ZU
authors.lastname: Rehman
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D002645:Chickens / Q000378:metabolism; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature; D012643:Selenium / Q000378:metabolism*; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D014810:Vitamin E; D012643:Selenium
keywords: Blood; Egg production; Egg quality; Heat stress; Layers; Selenium; Vitamin E