Influence of Dietary Selenium upon Reproductive Performance of Male and Female Breeder Turkeys

Abstract The effect of dietary selenium (Se) on reproductive performance was studied in caged male and female breeder turkeys raised from one day of age on diets low in Se. At sexual maturity, the hens were fed a diet consisting of corn, corn starch, soybean meal, and torula yeast alone or supplemented with .2 ppm Se as sodium selenite. In Experiment 1, toms were fed a low Se corn-soybean meal diet alone, with Se, with vitamin E, or with Se and vitamin E. In Experiment 2, toms were fed a 22% torula yeast diet alone or with Se. In Experiment 1 no significant difference due to dietary treatments in egg production, fertility, or hatchability was observed. Supplemental Se in the hen diet significantly increased hatchability of fertile eggs but did not influence egg production or fertility in Experiment 2. Severe gizzard myopathy was observed in 50 to 96% of newly hatched poults from hens fed the basal diet, but not in those from Se-supplemented hens. Poults from hens fed the basal diet were fed a 25% torula yeast diet alone, with .2 ppm Se, with 50 IU of vitamin E/kg, or both, for a period of two weeks. Supplemental Se and/or vitamin E failed to decrease the incidence of gizzard myopathy in these poults. The results indicate that Se is required in breeder turkey diets for optimum hatchability and livability of offspring.