Impact of royal jelly to improve reproductive performance of male rabbits under hot summer conditions

Abstract

To alleviate the deleterious effect of heat stress during summer conditions on male rabbits' reproduction, 40 V Line adult rabbit bucks (on av. 8 mo old) were divided into 4 experimental groups and exposed to temperatures ranging from 23 to 36°C. Bucks in the 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , and 4 th group were supplemented with 0, 50, 100 or 150 mg of Chinese royal jelly (RJ)/kg twice per week, respectively, over a 20-wk period. Semen quality and blood biochemical constituents were evaluated. RJ at any dose exhibited a significant increase (P<0.05) in rabbits' sperm concentration, total sperm output, sperm motility, live sperm and normal sperm compared to the untreated controls. Plasma total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose and high density lipids (HDL) concentrations were significantly (P<0.05) boosted in the RJ groups compared to the controls. In contrast, RJ treatment resulted in a significant (P<0.05) reduction in plasma total lipids, triglycerides, cholesterol and low density lipids (LDL) concentrations. Treatment with RJ significantly boosted (P<0.05) testosterone concentration in the RJ groups to reach 110, 120 and 128%, respectively, of the control group. Improved kidney and liver functions were observed in the RJ bucks groups where plasma creatinine, urea concentrations, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase enzyme activities were significantly (P<0.05) decreased by RJ treatments. Treating bucks subjected to heat stress by different RJ doses increased (P<0.05) total antioxidant capacity to 106, 111 and 115% of basal, but significantly reduced (P<0.05) malondialdehyde and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances compared to the untreated. It was concluded that Chinese royal jelly supplementation for heat-stressed male rabbits can counteract summer infertility and improve their physiological status.

Behavioral Activities, Physiological Body Reactions, Hematological Parameters and Hormonal Profiles for Bucks of New Zealand White and Baladi Red Rabbits Exposed to Short Term of High Temperature

“…Our results showed that there was a positive correlation between plasma testosterone and TSL. These results are in agreement with El-Hanoun et al (2014), who reported that a good relation between increased blood testosterone concentration and increase libido of male rabbits.…”

Effect of Spirulina Platensis on Reproductive Performance of Rabbit Bucks

“…In this respect, an improvement in total sexual libido (RT and STC) was reported in rabbit bucks treated with selenium plus vitamin E combination (Yassen et al,2016), royal jelly as natural active compounds (El-Hanoun et al, 2014), red algae (Ali and Mervat, 2013) or lycopene addition as natural antioxidants (Mangiagalli et al, 2012). The improvement in libido of treated bucks may be due to antioxidant components of S. platensis (Rezvanfar et al, 2008).…”

“…Also, the organic selenium, folic acid and their combination supplementation in rabbit feeds improved oxidative capacity in seminal plasma (Kamel, 2012). Treatment of bucks with royal jelly significantly increased TAC, GST, GPx, GSH and SOD, and significantly decreased TBARS in seminal plasma compared with control group (El-Hanoun et al, 2014). Mammalian sperm included rabbit display high rates of metabolic activity and are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids rendering them particularly susceptible to ROS-induced oxidation (Castellini et al, 2006).…”

“…In addition, treatment of rabbit bucks by royal jelly as natural active compounds in water (El-Hanoun et al, 2014), red algae (Ali and Mervat, 2013), lycopene addition as natural antioxidants to drinking water (Mangiagalli et al, 2012), dietary addition of enzymes (Gado et al, 2015) or organic selenium and folic acid (Kamel, 2012) had a positive effect on EV, semen quality and sperm output as compared to control bucks.…”

Short communication: effect of saccharomyces cerevisiae supplementation on some biomarkers of oxidative stress in weaned rabbits during the hot-dry season

“…Alleviating oxidative stress in rabbits includes the administration of antioxidants to supplement the endogenous antioxidants (Zeweil et al,2013;Simitzis et al, 2014;Trebušak et al, 2014), especially in thermal stress situations (El-Hanoun et al, 2014). Yeasts and their extracts are sources of natural antioxidants (Nishino and Ishikawa, 1998;Gazi et al, 2001).…”