Effects of High Dietary Levels of Selenium and Copper on Growth Performance, Selected Blood Biochemical Parameters and Antibody Production Against Newcastle Disease Vaccine Virus in Broiler Chickens

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of high dietary levels of selenium (as sodium selenite) and copper (as copper sulphate) on growth performance, serum biochemical parameters and antibody production against Newcastle disease vaccine (NDV) virus in broiler chickens. A total of 160 Ross 308 unsexed day old broiler chickens were randomly allocated into four treatment groups (n=40 per group) each comprising four replicates (n=10 per replicate). Group 1 was served as control and the chickens in this group were fed a standard diet without any selenium or copper supplementation. Chickens in Group 2 received a diet with selenium supplementation at the rate of 1 mg/kg of feed; Group 3 received a diet with copper supplementation at the rate of 200 mg/kg of feed; Group 4 received a diet supplemented with a combination of 1 mg/kg selenium and 200 mg/kg copper. Combined supplementation of selenium and copper decreased feed intake and body weight gain and increased feed conversion ratio (P0.05). Serum uric acid and triglycerides concentrations decreased (P0.05); antibody titres against NDV, however, decreased at day 42 of age in broilers receiving a combination of copper and selenium (P