Chorioallantoic respiration turning into pulmonary
respiration characterizes the process of hatching, which
accompanies a 60% accelerating of the oxidative
metabolism (Visschedijk, 1968). It’s also a process that can
incur the overproduction of free radicals which can further
lead to lipid peroxidation (LPO) since chick embryo
development is associated with an amassment of
polyunsaturated fatty acid in tissue lipids (Speake et al.,
1998). A unbalanced situation between the production rate
of free radicals and antioxidant ability in the developing
embryos could possibly lead to serious damages to tissues at
sensitive periods during development. Thus, the integrated
antioxidative systems in the developing chick embryo are
crucial for its development. It has been widely accepted that
selenium (Se) is a key determinant of the efficiency of
antioxidative system. The traditional source of Se added to
the diet of animal is sodium selenite (SS) but the most
suitable form of Se for animals is organic selenomethionine
(SM) (Schrauzer, 2003). In poultry, it was proved that Se in
maternal diet could be transferred into eggs by hens (Payne
et al., 2005; Pavlovic et al., 2009). Our earlier studies
revealed that feeding with maternal organic Se had a greater