Effect of Dietary Levels of Zingiber officinale and Allium sativum on Seminal Lipid Peroxidation and its Correlation with Semen Indices in Rabbit Bucks

Abstract

To assess the effect of dietary level of Zingiber officinale (ZO) and Allium sativum (AS) on seminal lipid peroxidation in rabbit bucks, twenty-eight (28) bucks aged 9 – 10 months old were fed diets containing 0, 5, 10 and 15 g ZO and AS /Kg diet respectively for seven (7) weeks with four bucks per treatment. Semen was collected from the bucks weekly using an artificial vagina. Samples of fresh semen were assessed for semen volume (ml), spermatozoa motility (%) and live sperm cells (%).Seminal plasma was separated from the semen by centrifugation and lipid peroxidation was determined as Malondialdehyde (MDA) activity using standard procedures. All data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. The result showed that semen volume and spermatozoa motility was significantly (p<0.05) influenced by the levels of the ZO and AS fed to the bucks. The values obtained for percentage live sperm cells were not significantly (p>0.05) different among the treatments. Lipid peroxidation was not significantly influenced by the dietary levels of the ZO and AS fed to the rabbit bucks. The values obtained for lipid peroxidation ranged from 0.36 – 0.41 nmol/ml in the Zingiber officinale group, while

0.29 – 0.35 nmol/ml was recorded in the Allium sativum group. A significant negative correlation exists between seminal lipid peroxidation and spermatozoa motility (r = -0.525; p<0.05) in the ZO group. It was concluded that for improved semen quality and quantity, 5 to 15 g/kg dietary level of Zingiber officinale can be fed to mature rabbit bucks to enhanced reproductive efficiency.