Effects of some dietary supplements on the reproductive and productive performances in male rats.

The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of three natural food supplements (water hyacinth [Eichhorniacrassipes, ''EC''], Yeast [Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ''S. cerevisiae''] and date seeds) on the reproductive and productive activities in male rats. Thus, 40 male albino rats were used and divided equally into 4 groups; Control group (fed normal basal diet), EC supplemented group (400 mg EC / kg body weight), S. cerevisiae supplemented group (120 mg / kg body weight) and date seed supplemented group (0.2 mg / kg body weight). Two months later, all rats were sacrificed and all samples were collected. Results revealed that date seeds supplementation increased significantly the body weight gain. Moreover, date seeds and S. cerevisiae supplementation increased significantly gonadosomatic index, serum levels of total antioxidant capacity decreased serum level of malondialdehyde ''MDA''. On the other side, EC supplementation reduced significantly the studied reproductive parameters as well as it decreased the serum level of TAC and increased the level of MDA. Histopathologicaly, seminiferous tubules appeared with huge amount of spermatids in date seeds group and with moderate number of spermatids in S. cerevisiae group and with few number of spermatids in EC group. Therefore, the present study highly recommends the usage of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as well as date seeds to minimize the ration costs, get the optimal benefit from the natural components of both supplements as well as to induce a higher productive and reproductive performance among animals. ARTICLE INFO