SEXUAL ACTIVITY, SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS AND TESTOSTERONE LEVELS IN MATURE MALE RABBITS TREATED WITH HORMONAL AND NON-HORMONAL PREPARATIONS

Ali, Montaser Elsayed; Farag, Belal Farag; Hussein, H A; Fahmy, S

doi:10.21608/ejap.2022.131455.1039

SEXUAL ACTIVITY, SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS AND TESTOSTERONE LEVELS IN MATURE MALE RABBITS TREATED WITH HORMONAL AND NON-HORMONAL PREPARATIONS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ department of animal production, Faculty of agryculture, Al-azhar Univirsity.

² animal prod., Fac. Agriculture, Al-azhar Uni.

³ Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, Egypt

⁴ Department of animal productions, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, 71524 Egypt

10.21608/ejap.2022.131455.1039

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the influence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), L-Carnitine (LC) and Royal jelly (RJ) treatments on Sexual activity, semen characteristics and testosterone levels of mature New Zealand White (NZW) males rabbit. A total of 20 NZW bucks were randomly assigned into four groups (5 bucks/each).The1^st group bucks were left without treatment (Control group). The Rabbit bucks of the 2^nd group injected IM with 50 IU of hCG / male / weekly for 6 weeks (hormonal group). While the 3^rd and 4^thmale groups (LC and RJ) received 50 mg LC daily and 100 mg RJ /kg BW, orally, respectively for 6 weeks(non-hormonal groups).The results revealed that the bucks treated with LC and RJ had significantly decreased(P<0.01) in the duration of the reaction time with prominent increase in the mating activity than hormonal treatment (hCG) and control groups. However, the semen ejaculate volume in bucks treated with LC and RJ were significantly higher (P<0.01) than hCG and control groups. Also, there were no significant differences in semen pH values among groups. While, the overall mean of testosterone concentrations in rabbits treated with LC and RJ were significantly higher (P<0.01) than in hCG and control groups. In conclusion, the results indicated that, both non-hormonal treatments (L-carnitine and Royal Jelly) had a positive and significant effect on reproductive activity and semen quality in mature NZW male rabbits.

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