Oral supplementation with Scabiosa artropurperea L. aqueous extract improves the in vivo sexual behaviour, sperm quality and androgen level in rams.

The effects of an aqueous extract of Scabiosa atropurpurea L. (AES) on the reproduction potential of Queue Fine de l'Ouest rams were evaluated over 9 weeks. Eighteen mature (4-6 years old) rams (52.8 ± 2.6 kg) were divided into three groups. The control (C) group was fed oat hay ad libitum with 700 g of concentrate and the other two groups were fed the same diet supplemented with AES at 1 and 2 mg/kg body weight (AES1 and AES2, respectively). Ram sperm was collected with an artificial vagina (2 × 2 days/week) to evaluate sperm production and quality, antioxidant activity, the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and calcium concentrations. Sexual behaviour and plasma testosterone concentrations were also investigated. The administration of AES improved sexual behaviour (the duration of contact and the number of lateral approaches). The addition of AES also improved individual spermatozoa motility (C: 71.7% ± 6.3%; AES1: 78.3% ± 4.9%; AES2: 83.8% ± 4.4%), the sperm concentration (C: 5.6 ± 0.36; AES1: 6.4 ± 0.81; AES2: 6.7 ± 0.52 × 109 spermatozoa/mL), the ATP ratio (C: 1 ± 0.08; AES1: 2.1 ± 0.08; AES2: 3.3 ± 0.08) and the calcium concentration (C: 5.6 ± 0.24; AES1: 7.7 ± 0.21; AES2: 8.1 ± 0.24 mmol/L). AES treatment decreased the percentage of abnormal sperm (C: 18.5% ± 1.2%; AES1: 16.2% ± 1.1%; AES2: 14.8% ± 0.94%) and DNA damage (C: 62%; AES1: 27%; AES2: 33%) and was associated with elevated seminal fluid antioxidant activity (C: 22 ± 0.27; AES1: 27.1 ± 1.08 and AES2: 27.5 ± 0.36 mmol Trolox equivalents/L) and plasma testosterone (C: 8.3 ± 0.7; AES1: 11.7 ± 0.4; AES2: 15 ± 0.7 ng/L). In conclusion, our study suggests that S. atropurpurea may be potentially useful to enhance libido and sperm production and quality in ram.

Assessment of growth hormone gene polymorphism effects on reproductive traits in Holstein dairy cattle in Tunisia.

Research to assess the effect of single genes on reproductive traits in bovine species is imperative to elucidate genes' functions and acquire a better perspective of quantitative traits. The present study was undertaken to characterize genetic diversity in the bovine growth hormone (GH) gene in a population of 410 Holstein dairy cows in Tunisia. The analyses were based on single nucleotide polymorphisms, and GH-AluI and GH-MspI detections and genotyping were carried out using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Data were analyzed using a mixed linear model with the MIXED procedure to reveal the possible effect of GH genotypes on reproductive traits. The frequency data of AluI(L//V) and MspI( + // - ) alleles were 87.04//12.96 and 70.06//29.94, respectively. The distribution of the frequency of GH genotypes for LL/LV/VV and ( - / - )//( + / - )//( + / + ) were 77.75//18.59//3.66 and 15.37//29.13//55.50, respectively. The results of the statistical analyses proved that GH-AluI showed a substantial favorable effect on exanimate traits except for the age at first calving; however, only a suggestive effect of GH-MspI on the calving interval (CI) and the days open (DI) was found. The homozygous LL genotype seemed to be advantageous with respect to the CI and the DI compared with LV and VV genotypes. Heterozygous MspI( + / - ) cows tended to have a longer CI and DI than MspI( + / + ) and MspI( - / - ) cows, but the difference was not statistically significant. A significant effect of different GH-AluI-MspI combined genotypes was found on the number of inseminations per conception, the CI and the DI, and the LL/- combined genotype seemed to be associated with better reproductive performance. Based on these results, the LL genotype of the GH locus can be considered to be a favorable genotype for reproductive traits in Holstein dairy cattle, although these findings need to be confirmed by further research before polymorphisms can be used in a marker-assisted selection program.