The effect of dietary organic selenium on reproductive performance of broiler breeder roosters under dexamethasone induced stress

Stress has deleterious impact on semen quality and fertility of roosters. This study was investigated to know whether dietary supplementation of organic selenium (oSe) could improve semen quality and fertility of male broiler breeder under dexamethasone (Dexa) induced stress. Forty broiler breeder roosters (64 week of age) were randomly allotted to four groups (10 roosters/group) and fed a standard diet supplemented with different levels of oSe during 10 successive weeks of the experimental period. To induce stress, the birds received injections of 2 mg/kg BW of Dexa during weeks 5 and 6 of the experiment, in one-day-intervals manner. The roosters were not treated with Dexa and oSe (negative control; NC), or treated with Dexa and different levels of oSe including 0 (positive control; PC), 0.30 (Se30+Dexa) or 0.45 (Se45+Dexa) mg/kg diet. Body weight was measured weekly and semen quality parameters and fertility were evaluated every two weeks. Except for seminal volume and total sperm production which was not affected by the treatment, body weight, semen quality parameters, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in seminal plasma were influenced by interactive effect of treatment and time (P