Table 2.

Selenium (Se) and iodine (I) status in serum of pregnant Australian Merino ewes reared on natural pasture and supplemented, 30 days prior to lambing, with selenium and iodine or selenium alone.

Diet	Serum selenium (μg/ml)		Serum iodine (μg/ml)
	Days prior to lambing		Days prior to lambing
	30	0	30	0
Pasture	0.128 ± 0.023a	0.216 ± 0.032b	0.208 ± 0.017a	0.150 ± 0.016b
Pasture + Se + I	0.122 ± 0.031a	0.140 ± 0.013b	0.197 ± 0.036a	0.175 ± 0.020b
Pasture + Se	0.114 ± 0.022a	0.221 ± 0.041b	0.199 ± 0.021a	0.163 ± 0.027b
Main effects
Diet	ns		Ns
Days	p < 0.004		p < 0.05
	0.121 ± 0.014 a	0.195 ± 0.019 b	0.201 ± 0.014 a	0.162 ± 0.012 b

Data are mean ± SEM of 10 ewes for each diet. Selenium and iodine data in serum were analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA with diet and days prior to or at lambing in ewes, as main effects. ANOVA one way was used to compare between days prior to birth for each diet. ^a,b Values with different letters mean significant differences at p < 0.05 by Tukey-Kramer post hoc test; ns = non significant.