Nano-selenium supplementation in plant protein-based diets changed thyroid hormones status and hepatic enzymes activity in Acanthopagrus arabicus female broodfish and their offspring

A feeding trial was conducted to assess the effects of nano-selenium (n.Se) supplementation in a plant protein (PP)-based diet on female Acanthopagrus arabicus broodfish and their offspring. Two basal diets were prepared: a fish meal (FM)-based diet (FM-control) as a positive control and a PP-based diet. The PP-based diet was supplemented with n.Se at five levels including 0 (PP-control, as a negative control), 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 mg/ Kg. Brooders were fed for 90 days with one of the six experimental diets. Supplementing the PP-based diet with 2–4 mg n.Se/Kg markedly enhanced survival rate in 3-day post-hatch larvae (3DPH) larvae and total body length in newly born and 3DPH larvae. Serum triiodothyronine (T3) significantly decreased in females by supplementing PP-based diet with 1–4 mg n.Se/kg, meanwhile, serum thyroxine (T4) increased in females fed 1–4 mg n.Se/kg PP-based diets. The level of serum T3 in females fed FM-based diet was lower than those fed PP-based diet without n.Se supplementation (0.6 vs. 1.9 nmol/L−1). Meanwhile, the serum T4 was markedly higher in broodfish fed the FM-based diet than those fed the PP-based diet (21.9 vs. 14.3 nmol/L−1). The levels of T3 and T4 in 3DPH larvae originating from females fed the PP-based diet without n.Se supplementation were lower than in FM-based and n.Se supplemented PP-based groups (P