Amir Mousaie

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of selenium-methionine (Se-Met) and chromium-methionine (Cr-Met) supplements on serum and milk selenium concentrations of Baluchi ewes around parturition. The following treatments were allotted randomly to 40 multiparous Baluchi ewes (53.9 ± 1.15 kg of body weight (BW)) from 5 weeks prior to parturition to 5 weeks after parturition: (1) control; (2) control plus 5 mg Se-Met/kg dry matter (DM); (3) control plus 3 mg Cr-Met/kg DM; and (4) control plus 5 mg Se-Met and 3 mg Cr-Met/kg DM (SeCr-Met) of concentrate diet. The experimental design was completely randomized block design with 5 replica in each treatment-block arrangement. Ewes on Se-Cr-Met supplements displayed increased average serum Se concentration than control- (P= 0.009) and Cr-Met- (P= 0.04) fed animals. Animals supplemented with Se-Met (137.65 µg/L) and Se-Cr-Met (196.63 µg/L) diets produced milk containing higher Se concentrations than ewes fed control (29.6 µg/L) and Cr-Met (25.5 µg/L) diets (P< 0.05). The results demonstrated the greater efficacy of extra-nutritional SeMet supplementation to improve serum and milk Se concentration of Baluchi ewes.