Impact of Aspilia africana on Semen and Testicular Characteristics of Rabbit Bucks

Abstract

A completely randomized design experiment was conducted to study semen characteristics, testicular histology and morphological dimensions of mixed bred rabbit bucks fed Aspilia africana Leaf Meal (AALM). The treatments designated treatment one (T1), treatment 2 (T2) and treatment 3 (T3) having 12 rabbits each were replicated 3 times with 4 rabbits per replicate. The age of the rabbits was 3 to 6 months, and they weighed approximately 2.56 kg. Three diets formulated with AALM and supplemented at 0, 10 and 20 g/kg feed were fed to rabbits in the respective treatments. Data were collected on the libido, semen parameters and testicular morphometry and histology. Results showed significant (P<0.05) dose-dependent decrease in gross motility (T1 80.00; T2 78.67; T3 70.67 %), total sperm/ejaculate (T1 57.78; T2 55.48; T3 39.97 %), sperm concentration (T1116.8; T2 110.83; T3 88.00 x10/ml), fructose T1 0.24; T2 ; 0.20 T3, 0.17 mmol/l), zinc (T1 1.81; T21.63; T3 1.51 mmol/l), scrotal circumference (T1 4.57; T2 4.43; T3 4.00 cm), paired testis weight (T1 3.45; T2 3.10; T3 2.94 g) and volume (T1 3.43; T2 3.14; 3.14 T3 3.07 cm ) following supplementation of AALM. Abnormal sperm significantly (P<0.05) increased with increase in the test ingredient. In conclusion, these results indicated that supplementation of AALM even at low levels adversely affected semen characteristics, testicular histology and testicular morphometric parameters.