Effects of organic selenium on the milk productivity in Saanen goats

The aim of the research is to evaluate the efficacy of the organic selenium in the diets of lactating goats in terms of lactation performance increase. The objective of the research is to study the effect of feeding the organic form of selenium on goat milk productivity. The experiment was conducted on two groups of lactating goats (20 animals per each group), formed according to their age, live weight, milk yield, as well as milk fat and protein content. The basal diet for Saanen goats with an average body weight of 45 kg and a daily milk yield of 3.7 kg included 17.8 MJ of gross energy, 290 g of digestible protein, and 2300 g of crude fiber, including 290 g of starch. The sugar-to-protein ratio in the diet was 0.7. Each energetic feed unit contained 162.9 g of digestible protein. The experimental group daily received an additional organic selenium supplement of 0.3 mg/kg of dry matter in the compound feed once before morning milking. The organic selenium supplementation increased milk yield by 17.1% compared to the control group. Due to the supplementation over the experimental period, milk fat content increased by an average of 0.3%, and protein content – by 0.1% compared to the control group. This study is the first to evaluate the effects of organic selenium supplementation in lactating Saanen goats.