THE IMPORTANCE, UTILIZATION AND SOURCES OF SELENIUM FOR POULTRY: A REVIEW

Selenium remains one of the most discussed elements. Selenium is on one hand toxic at high doses. On the other hand, Se deficiency is a global problem related to an increasing susceptibility of animals and humans to various diseases. The main objective of this paper is to estimate the importance of selenium for poultry, its use in organic and inorganic forms and as nutrition supplements, the benefits and risks of its use and suggestions of new possible ways of using selenium and its sources, e.g., the freshwater alga Chlorella. Optimisation of Se nutrition of poultry will result in increased quality of poultry products. From the data presented in the review, the effort to replace inorganic forms of selenium with organic forms in the poultry nutrition is clear especially in the recent time. The review shows that organic selenium is better absorbed from gastro-intestinal track then inorganic selenium. One possibility is Selenium – enriched yeast (Sel-Plex). Another source of organic forms of selenium might be Se – enriched freshwater alga Chlorella. The main advances in Se status assessment and Se requirements were established based on the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). Se research and practical applications are developing quickly, and they are very exciting and promising