Selenite and selenium yeast as feed supplements to growing fattening pigs

Twenty-four cross-bred fattening pigs weighing, on average, 24 kg were divided into three equal groups and fed a basic diet containing 0.1 mg selenium/kg. The diet of group A was supplemented with 0.3 mg selenium/kg derived from selenium yeast, group B with 0.1 mg selenium/kg from the same source, and group C with 0.3 mg/kg from sodium selenite. The pigs were slaughtered after 103 days. There was no significant difference between the mean whole blood selenium concentration of the pigs supplemented with selenium yeast neither after five nor after nine weeks of supplementation (group A, 201 and 213 micrograms/litre; group B 192 and 201 micrograms/litre, respectively), but the group supplemented with selenite had significantly lower concentrations both after five and nine weeks (158 and 159 micrograms/litre, respectively). There were no significant differences between the mean activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px; in the whole blood of the three groups (group A, 348 and 327 mukat*/litre, group B, 342 and 302 mukat/litre; group C, 332 and 300 mukat/litre, after five and nine weeks, respectively). The concentration of selenium in the liver of the pigs supplemented with organic selenium was significantly higher than in the pigs supplemented with selenite (group A, 0.54 mg/kg wet weight; group B, 0.54 mg/kg; group C, 0.40 mg/kg). No deposits of lipofuscin or ceroid pigments were observed in the histological preparations of liver and heart from any of the pigs.