Dietary selenium sources alleviate immune challenge induced by Salmonella Enteritidis potentially through improving the host immune response and gut microbiota in laying hens

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different selenium (Se) sources on the immune responses and gut microbiota of laying hens challenged with <i>Salmonella enteritidis</i> (<i>S. Enteritidis</i>). A total of 240 45-week-old layers were randomly divided into eight groups with six replicates per group according to a 4 × 2 factorial design, including a blank diet without Se supplementation (CON group) and three diets with 0.3 mg/kg Se supplementation from sodium selenite (IS group), yeast Se (YS group), and selenium-enriched yeast culture (SYC group), respectively. After 8 weeks of feeding, half of them were orally challenged with 1.0 ml suspension of 10⁹ colony-forming units per milliliter of <i>S. Enteritidis</i> daily for 3 days. The serum was collected on days 3, 7, and 14, and the cecum content was collected on day 14 after challenge. There was no significant difference in laying performance among the eight groups before challenge. The <i>S. Enteritidis</i> challenge significantly decreased the laying performance, egg quality, GSH-Px, IgG, and IgM and increased the ratio of feed and egg, malondialdehyde (MDA), <i>Salmonella</i>-specific antibody (SA) titers, IL-6, IL-2, IL-1β, and INF-γ. However, SYC increased the level of GSH-Px and IgG and decreased IL-6, while YS decreased the level of IL-2 and IL-1β. What is more, Se supplementation decreased the SA titers to varying degrees and reduced the inflammatory cell infiltration in the lamina propria caused by <i>S. Enteritidis</i> infection. In addition, the <i>S. Enteritidis</i> challenge disrupted the intestinal flora balance by reducing the abundance of the genera <i>Clostridium innocuum</i>, <i>Lachnospiraceae</i>, and <i>Bifidobacterium</i> and increasing the genera <i>Butyricimonas</i> and <i>Brachyspira</i>, while Se supplementation increased the gut microbial alpha diversity whether challenged or not. Under the <i>S. Enteritidis</i> challenge condition, the alteration of microbial composition by the administration of different Se sources mainly manifested as IS increased the relative abundance of the genera <i>Lachnospiraceae</i> and <i>Christensenellaceae</i>, YS increased the relative abundance of the genera <i>Megamonas</i> and <i>Sphingomonas</i>, and SYC increased the genera <i>Fusobacterium</i> and <i>Lactococcus</i>. The alteration of gut microbial composition had a close relationship with antioxidant or immune response. To summarize, different Se sources can improve the egg quality of layers challenged by <i>S. Enteritidis</i> that involves elevating the immunity level and regulating the intestinal microbiota.