Prolonged exposure of dietary phytoestrogens on semen characteristics and reproductive performance of rabbit bucks.

The effects of inclusion of different sources of dietary phytoestrogens on antioxidant capacity, hormonal balance, libido, semen quality, and fertility of rabbit bucks were studied. Twenty-one, adult, fertile, V-line bucks were randomly allocated into 3 homogenous groups (n = 7/treatment) and received control diet (phytoestrogens-free diet, CON) or soybean meal isoflavones-containing diet (SMI) or linseed meal lignans-containing diet (LML) for 12 wk. The diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous. The concentrations of isoflavones in the SMI diet were 24.04 mg/100 g dry matter (DM) daidzein and 13.10 mg/100 g DM genistein. The major phytoestrogen detected in the LML diet was secoisolariciresinol (36.80 mg/100 g DM). Treatment had no effects on body weight, feed intake and rectal temperature of bucks. Compared with control, bucks fed the SMI and LML diets had higher (P < 0.001) blood plasma total antioxidant capacity (0.98 ± 0.12, 1.50 ± 0.13, and 2.29 ± 0.17 mM/L for CON, SMI, and LML, respectively), and lower (P < 0.01) blood plasma malondialdehyde (2.76 ± 0.23, 1.76 ± 0.16, and 1.70 ± 0.18 nmol/mL for CON, SMI, and LML, respectively), whereas activities of reduced glutathione and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes were not affected. Bucks fed the SMI and LML diets had greater (P < 0.001) concentrations of blood plasma triiodothyronine. Feeding the SMI and LML diets decreased (P < 0.01) libido (8.26 ± 0.71, 12.18 ± 0.97, and 14.12 ± 1.12 s for CON, SMI, and LML, respectively), sperm concentration (327.7 ± 21.6, 265.8 ± 36.8, and 226.5 ± 20.1 × 106/mL for CON, SMI, and LML, respectively), testosterone (5.16 ± 0.95, 3.91 ± 0.63, and 3.04 ± 0.92 ng/mL for CON, SMI, and LML, respectively), and seminal plasma fructose compared with the CON diet. The percentage of progressive motile sperm was improved (P < 0.001) by both phytoestrogen-containing diets. Feeding the SMI diet increased (P = 0.02) the percentage of live sperm compared with CON, whereas LML resulted in an intermediate value. Dietary treatment of bucks did not affect kindling rates or litter sizes of does, and did not affect birth weights or viabilities of kits. In conclusion, prolonged consumption of dietary isoflavones or lignans did not impair semen fertilizability. This may be due to the benefits of antioxidant activity or due to the benefits of other components in the diet. Dietary phytoestrogens did evoke obvious decreases in libido and steroidogenesis with altered semen parameters.

Hashem NM ，Abo-Elsoud MA ，Nour El-Din ANM ，Kamel KI ，Hassan GA ... -  《-》

Effects of Organic Selenium on the Physiological Response, Blood Metabolites, Redox Status, Semen Quality, and Fertility of Rabbit Bucks Kept Under Natural Heat Stress Conditions.

Heat stress can impair the general health of rabbit bucks by disturbing physiological homeostasis with negative consequences in animal welfare and remarkable decline in reproductive performance. Selenium (Se) can control a number of vital biological processes. Thus, the effects of organic selenium (OSe) supplementation on the blood metabolites, redox status, semen quality, testicular histology, seminal plasma protein profile, and fertility of rabbit bucks kept under natural heat stress conditions were studied. Adult V-line male rabbits were fed a basal diet supplemented with 0.3 mg OSe/kg dry matter (DM) diet (OSe, n = 9) or not (control, CON, n = 9) for 12 weeks. The results showed that rabbits fed the OSe diet had 73.68 and 68.75% higher (P < 0.05) OSe concentrations in the blood serum and seminal plasma, respectively, than rabbits fed the CON diet. The OSe diet significantly decreased the rectal temperature and respiration rate and significantly increased the blood serum concentrations of total protein, albumin, glucose, and glutathione peroxidase compared to the CON diet. Rabbits fed the OSe diet had lower reaction times (12.53 vs. 5.84 s, ± 0.79, P < 0.01) and higher total functional sperm counts (116.74 vs. 335.23 × 106/ml, ± 24.68, P < 0.001) and percentages of integrated sperm membranes (60.38 vs. 79.19%, ± 1.69, P < 0.01) than rabbits fed the CON diet. Rabbits fed the OSe diet had higher (P < 0.01) contents of seminal plasma total protein, albumin, alanine transaminase, fructose, and total antioxidant capacity and lower (P < 0.001) malondialdehyde (MDA) levels than those fed the CON diet. Rabbits fed the OSe diet had sperm cells with higher levels of integrated DNA than those fed the CON diet. The seminal plasma of rabbits fed the OSe diet contained four new proteins, with molecular weights of 19.0, 21.5, 30.0, and 44.0 kDa. The kindling rates, litter size, and weight at birth of females mated with males fed the OSe diet were significantly higher than those of females mated with males fed the CON diet. In summary, the inclusion of 0.3 mg OSe/kg DM diet of naturally heat-stressed rabbit bucks countered the negative impacts of elevated environmental temperature on physiological homeostasis, semen quality, and fertility.

Hosny NS ，Hashem NM ，Morsy AS ，Abo-Elezz ZR ... -  《Frontiers in Veterinary Science》

Semen quality, antioxidant status and reproductive performance of rabbits bucks fed milk thistle seeds and rosemary leaves.

The study aimed to investigate the effects of milk thistle seeds (MTS) and rosemary leaves (RL) both at 5 and 10g/kg diet on reproductive performance, semen quality and blood metabolites of rabbit bucks. A total of 35 rabbit bucks were randomly distributed into five experimental groups (7 bucks/group). All the groups were fed the same basal diet. The 1st group (control) did not have MTS and RL in its basal diet. The 2nd and 3rd groups were supplemented with MTS at 5 and 10g/kg, respectively. The 4th and 5th groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with RL at 5 and 10g/kg, respectively. The sperm concentration (SC), total sperm output (TSO), live sperm (LS), total live sperm (TLS) and total motile sperm (TMS) were significantly greater in the bucks fed MTS at 10 and RL at 5g/kg diet than the control group. Bucks fed MTS at 10g/kg diet had higher fertility than the control. Also, RL 5g/kg group showed higher testosterone and fertility than the control, but the MTS 10g/kg group showed the highest value for both parameters. In conclusion, MTS and RL at 10 and 5g/kg, respectively, significantly improved the semen quality and the fertility and MTS also increased the economic efficiency of rabbit bucks.

Attia YA ，Hamed RS ，Bovera F ，Abd El-Hamid AEE ，Al-Harthi MA ，Shahba HA ... -  《-》

Semen quality, testosterone, seminal plasma biochemical and antioxidant profiles of rabbit bucks fed diets supplemented with different concentrations of soybean lecithin.

Attia YA ，Kamel KI 《-》

Dietary flax seed oil and/or Vitamin E improve sperm parameters of cloned goats following freezing-thawing.

Semen cryopreservation is affected by individual differences and use of clones animal from the same source is the main tool to eliminate genetic variation. Among many nutrients that are necessary for fertility, essential fatty acids and antioxidants are vital for production of healthy sperm by improving sperm membrane integrity and protecting sperm from oxidative stress. The goal of the current study was to investigate whether a flax seed oil or/and Vitamin E dietary supplementation could improve semen quality of cloned bucks following semen cryopreservation. Accordingly, eight adult cloned Bakhtiari bucks were divided randomly into four groups. Bucks were offered a base diet of hay and concentrate. The concentrate was enriched with flax seed oil, 30 gr/kg body weight/day (OIL), Vitamin E (VIT), 3 gr/kg body weight/day, or combined flax seed oil and the vitamin E (OIL-VIT). The concentrate with no supplements was considered as control group (CONT). Both flax seed oil and Vitamin E supplements were added to the total diet. The bucks were fed with their corresponding diets for a total of 9 weeks while sperm collection was carried out within 10-14 weeks. Ejaculates were diluted with Andromed® and were frozen in liquid nitrogen. Sperm parameters and reactive oxygen species (ROS) contents were evaluated following freezing/thawing. According to the results of our study, dietary supplementation with flax seed oil, or/and Vitamin E can improve sperm motility, vitality and number of sperm with intact plasma membrane following freezing-thawing. But the degree of improvement in these parameters was significantly higher when Flax seed oil and vitamin E were co-supplemented.

Kargar R ，Forouzanfar M ，Ghalamkari G ，Nasr Esfahani MH ... -  《-》