WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE THE ANIMAL DURING HEAT STRESS?
- Oxidative stress increases
- Antioxidant reserves are challenged
- Gut barrier and immune pressure rise
- Disrupted acid-base balance (respiratory alkalosis)
Heat stress in livestock is associated with impaired performance, gastrointestinal pressure, reproductive challenges, inflammation and cell damage. That is where a strong mineral foundation becomes important.
MINERAL NUTRITION: BUILDING RESILIENCE BEFORE STRESS HITS
Excential Selenium 4000 supports this first line of resilience by supplying selenium as L-selenomethionine. This is the selenium form that can be incorporated into animal proteins, creating a functional selenium reserve that can support a more continuous selenium supply during periods of reduced intake, sickness or heat stress. Internal material states that this selenium storage supports continuous selenium supply when intake is limited and when selenoenzyme production is needed to combat oxidative stress.
The relevance of selenium under heat stress is supported by broiler data, showing significantly improved feed conversion ratio compared with the control treatment based on sodium selenite. In another heat stress-related dataset, Excential Selenium 4000 was shown to reduce concentrations of proteins linked to heat stress and oxidative stress (HSP-70, MDA and PGC-1α), indicating a protective effect against heat stress (Figure 1).
