Further, the diets were supplemented with organic Se (MinPlex Selenium, Bentoli AgriNutrition, Homestead, Florida, USA) to arrive five graded concentrations in diet I (basal diet without organic Se); diet II (diet I+organic Se at 100 g/kg diet); diet III (diet I+organic Se at 200 g/kg diet); diet IV (diet I+organic Se at 300 g/kg diet); diet V (diet I+organic Se at 400 g/kg diet), and each diet was allotted at random to eight replicates and fed ad libitum from 1 to 42 d of age.