Effects of selenium-enriched yeast dietary supplementation on egg quality, gut morphology and caecal microflora of laying hens

Abstract

Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for humans and animals and is a powerful antioxidant that can promote reproductive and immune functions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplemental dietary selenium-enriched yeast (SeY) on egg quality, gut morphology and microflora in laying hens. In total, 100 HY-Line Brown laying hens (45-week old) were randomly allocated to two groups with 10 replicates and fed either a basal diet (without Se supplementation) or a basal diet containing 0.2 mg/kg Se in the form of SeY for 8 weeks. The Se supplementation did not have a significant effect on egg quality and intestinal morphology of laying hens. Based on the 16S rRNA sequencing, SeY dietary supplementation effectively modulated the cecal microbiota structure. An alpha diversity analysis demonstrated that birds fed 100 mg/kg SeY had a higher cecal bacterial diversity. SeY dietary addition elevated Erysipelotrichia (class), Lachnospiraceae (family), Erysipelotrichaceae (family) and Ruminococcus_torques_group (genus; p < .05). Analysis of microbial community-level phenotypes revealed that SeY supplementation decreased the microorganism abundance of facultatively anaerobic and potentially pathogenic phenotypes. Overall, SeY supplementation cannot significantly improve intestinal morphology; however, it modulated the composition of cecal microbiota toward a healthier gut.

Keywords:

• Gut microbiota
• laying hens
• feeding supplements
• selenium-enriched yeast

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Qingping Shao Chunhua Yu and Zhimei Zhang for feeding the experimental animals.

Author contributions

Ruili Li: data curation; formal analysis; writing-original draft; writing-review and editing. Ming Qin, Lei Zhang and Jiewei Liu: Formal analysis; methodology; writing-review and editing. Minxiao Liu and Mingzhi Liang: conceptualization; project administration; supervision; writing-review and editing; Ming Qin, Lei Zhang, Jiewei Liu, Zengguang Wang and Yufen Sha: conceptualization; methodology; project administration; supervision; writing-review and editing; Huiwen Ma, Yafeng Lin, Baohua Li, Jinming You: supervision.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported financially by Key R&D Program of Jiangxi Province, China [No. 20202BBFL63029] and Key R&D Program of Shandong Province, China [No. 2022TZXD0015].