Effect of Selenium on Performance, Serum Selenium Concentration and Glutathione Peroxidase a C T I V I T Y in Pigs 1

Pigs from sows fed a diet deficient in Sc and low in vitamin E were fed a Torula yeast diet supplemented with 100 IU dl-a-tocopheryl acetate/kg of diet. Dietary treatments were levels of supplemental Se of 0, .025, .050, .075 or .100 ppm. Some death loss occurred in pigs receiving no supplemental Se at approximately 5 wk of age. Autopsy revealed liver and heart lesions typical of vitamin E-Se deficiency. Selenium supplement had no significant effect on average daily gain, feed intake or gain to feed ratio for the 4-wk experiment. Selenium status of pigs was determined by serum Se concentration and serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity. Serum Se increased linearly (P<.01) with increasing supplemental Se. Serum GSH-Px activity increased linearly (P<.01) and quadratically (P<.05) with increasing supplemental Se. With time, the level of serum Se and GSH-Px activity decreased in unsupplemental pigs, but increased in pigs fed diets supplemented with Se and resulted in significant interactions (P<.01) between dietary Se level and time on experiment. The correlat ion between serum Se concentration and GSHPx activity was .81 (P<.01). (