This experiment aimed at investigating the effects of milk thistle seeds (MTS) and rosemary leaves (RL) at 5 and 10 g/kg diet as feed additives on semen quality, blood metabolites and reproductive performance on rabbit bucks. A total number of 35 male V-line rabbit bucks were distributed randomly into five experimental groups of 7 bucks each. The 1 st group, which served as a control, did not supplement with MTS and RL in their basal diet. The 2 nd and the 3 rd groups were supplemented with MTS at 5 and 10 g/kg in their basal diet, respectively. The 4 th and the 5 th groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with RL at 5 and 10 g/kg, respectively. The best sperm concentration (SC), total sperm output (TSO), live sperm (LS), total live sperm (TLS) and total motile sperm (TMS) were obtained from bucks fed MTS at 10 g/kg diet followed by RL at 5 g/kg diet. Bucks received MTS 10g/kg diet significantly increased their blood serum testosterone compared to the control and this was associated with a significant increase in the fertility rate of the 10 g MTS group. In addition, RL at 5 g/kg significantly increased blood serum testosterone and fertility compared to the control, but the MTS group had the highest serum testosterone and fertility. In conclusion, MTS and RL at 10 and 5g/kg, respectively, significantly improved antioxidant status and liver markers, which led to a significant increase in semen quality and fertility in rabbit bucks.
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