Comparison of the effects of dietary selenium, zinc, and selenium and zinc supplementation on growth and immune response between chick groups that were inoculated with Salmonella and aflatoxin or Salmonella

The effects of four diets (basal diet, Se, Zn, and Se- and Zn-enriched diets) fed to chicks that were administered one of three treatments [Salmonella and aflatoxin inoculation (T1), Salmonella inoculation (T2), or uninoculated (T3)] were investigated for growth and immune responses. We found a significant improvement in growth performance represented by relative body gain (RBG) and feed efficiency (FE), for the Zn- and Se + Zn-enriched diets fed to the T1 and T2 groups. The antibody immune response was significantly improved for the Se enrichment diet in the T1 and T2 groups. The weight of the bursa and thymus, which relate to the level of the immune response, showed significant decreases, whereas the spleen had a significantly increased relative weight (RW) in the T1 group. The variable dietary trace elements supplement increased the thymic RW in the T2 group.