Melatonin along with eCG improves fresh semen quality and plasma concentrations of melatonin and testosterone during non-breeding season in Beetal bucks

Impact of melatonin administration on sperm quality, steroid hormone levels, and testicular blood flow parameters in small ruminants: A meta-analysis

“…Thirty studies were performed in 15 countries, primarily Spain (16.67%), Australia (13.33%), and the UK (10.00%) ( Table-1 ) [ 9 – 38 ]. The percentages of sheep and goats were 80% and 20%, respectively.…”

“…These findings are similar to those reported by Abbas et al . [ 9 ], who reported that injection of melatonin increases the concentration, normal morphology, acrosome, and DNA integrity of sperm in rams. Moreover, motility, acrosome, and DNA integrity in the post-thawed semen of melatonin-treated small ruminants were also increased.…”

“…The included studies are presented in Table-1 [ 9 – 38 ] as follows: First author’s name, year, location, species, season, dose, and research duration. The graphical data were extracted using WebPlotDigitizer (Automeris LLC, CA, USA) [ 42 ].…”

“…Melatonin administration has been intensively investigated to modulate reproductive cycles in small male ruminants. Melatonin injection has beneficial effects on testosterone production, sperm, and quality of post-thawed semen in sheep and goats during both breeding and non-breeding seasons [ 9 – 30 ]. Melatonin administration also mitigates sperm abnormalities in heat-stressed rams [ 31 ].…”

Systematic review of hormonal strategies to improve fertility in rams

“…Based on their results, there was a decrease in non-viable and morphologically abnormal spermatozoa and an increase in T concentrations and semen quality, observed from the 3rd week of the study (see Table 3 ). ( Abbas et al, 2021 ). These results are interesting because of the combination of the two hormones: on the one hand, eCG, which can directly increase the level of intra-testicular T, directing its action to the differentiated spermatozoa found in the epididymis and in the accessory sex glands, where the eCG receptors are located ( Min et al, 2004 ), causing a change in the composition of the seminal plasma ( Matsuoka et al, 2006 ); on the other hand, melatonin, which has the limitation that it can exert its effect only up to 35 days after its application ( Abbas et al, 2021 ).…”