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Welcome to the organic selenium jungle!

How to identify the right organic selenium solution

When talking about organic selenium (Se), the three words ‘bioavailability, quality and price’ are always mentioned within the first three sentences. More and more organic Se solutions are offered in the market as the use of organic Se has increased greatly in recent years. Nutritionists are aware of the benefits of feeding organic Se to animals instead of inorganic, mineral sources. However, when it comes to selecting the best organic Se source, it can be tricky. There are more and more options on the market with different specifications and price, and nutritionists can find themselves in the middle of a real organic Se jungle where it can be difficult to decide which solution might bring the best price-to-performance ratio.

How to compare apples with apples and which criteria should nutritionists rely on to assess Se quality?

This article aims to give an overview of the organic Se sources available in the European market and bring some tips on assessment criteria.

Se concentration (left) and transfer rate into the breast muscle (right) of different organic Se sources (fed at 0.2 mg Se per kg complete feed) after 14 days supplementation to broiler chicks (p<0.001).

Figure 3. Se concentration (left) and transfer rate into the breast muscle (right) of different organic Se sources (fed at 0.2 mg Se per kg complete feed) after 14 days supplementation to broiler chicks (p<0.001).

Many comparison studies between Se-enriched yeast and synthetic organic Se sources have been performed in the past. However, most of them were based on Se concentration in tissues and not the Se transfer rate. In the above-mentioned broiler study, the bioavailability of three different synthetic organic sources containing 100% SeMet (Zn-SM, SM1 and SM2) was also assessed.
There was not a significant difference between the Se-enriched yeast ALKOSEL and the synthetic SeMet regarding the Se concentration in the muscle. However, when taking into account Se transfer rate, differences are evidenced. Within the group of synthetic products, SM2 resulted in the highest Se-transfer rate (37%) compared to SM1 (34%) and Zn-SM (23%). Interestingly analysis of SM1 and Zn-SM did not show the expected >97% SeMet values, but instead 76% and 69% SeMet levels, respectively. It needs to be further investigated if the remaining Se is present in organic or inorganic form. (Figure 3)