Effects of selenium source and level of supplementation on the performance and meat quality of lambs

Objective of this study was to evaluate the performance, the quality and oxidative stability of meat, thetotal Se and specific selenoamino-acids content of muscle of lambs that were fed diets supplementedfrom different Se sources and at different levels. Forty-eight Apennine lambs 30 day old(12.78 ± 0.94 kg) received, during a 63 day period, a total mixed ration (TMR) which was either Se unsupplemented(Control group - background only- 0.13 mg/kg Se) or supplemented with Na selenite (0.30 mg/kg Se as sodium selenite) or selenium enriched yeast (0.30 mg/kg and 0.45 mg/kg Se as Se-yeast).Growth performance, feed to gain ratio, carcass and meat quality (pH, drip and cooking losses, colour,GSH-Px activity and chemical analysis) did not show any difference between the treatments. Meat colourand oxidative stability during 9 days of refrigerated storage were unaffected by dietary supplementation,suggesting that, at the levels of Se used in this experiment, dietary Se, even from an organic source, hadlimited potential for reducing lipid oxidation. Selenium supplementation raised the Se content in muscle(P < 0.001) with the greatest increase when Se-yeast was fed. Although selenite increased total Se, it didnot influence total or specific selenoamino-acids in this tissue. On the contrary, Se-yeast supplementationled to an increase in muscle Se-methionine content. We conclude that Se supplementation can increasesignificantly muscle Se levels and produce, particularly when Se-yeast is fed, a source of Se enriched meatas Se-methionine.[...]