EFFECT OF DIFFERENT DIETARY PROTEIN LEVELS ON TESTOSTERONE AND TESTICULAR PARAMETERS IN AWASSI LAMBS

  • SHAKER HASSAN AL-DOSKI Duhok Technical Institute. Duhok Polytechnic University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
Keywords: Nutrition, supplement, male lambs, reproductive hormone

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of three different dietary protein levels on testosterone concentrations and testicular parameters in Awassi male lambs. Fifteen weaned Awassi ram lambs were randomly divided into three different dietary protein levels, 13% crude protein (T1), 14% crude protein (T2), and 15% crude protein (T3), with an equal energy level (12.1 MJ/kg/DM) for all treatments. The lambs were fed daily on concentrate ad libitum with access to fresh water. During the experimental period (75 days), all lambs were weighed weekly. Live weight and testicular parameters, as well as the serum testosterone concentrations were measured. The results showed that the dietary protein levels significantly increased (P < 0.001) lambs body weight in both T3 and T2 compared to T1. Although there were no differences found in relative weight of the testicle to lambs live weight, the dietary protein significantly increased (P < 0.05) testicular weight (110.83g ± 5.05, 135.32g ± 11.10 and 159.04g± 17.94) for T1, T2 and T3 respectively. There were high significant (P < 0.001) effects of protein diet noticed on the serum testosterone concentrations (0.46 ± 0.05, 4.70 ± 1.21 ± 1.03 and 4.24 ng/ml) for T1, T2 and T3 respectively. There were significant differences observed in right (P < 0.05) and left (P < 0.05) testicular parameters, whilst there were no effects of protein diet observed in both right and left epididymis between groups. The results indicated that the dietary protein levels positively affect in live body weight and reproductive activity of growing awassi lambs

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abdullahi Mahmud, Muhammad. (2015) “Morphological Studies on Epididymis and Vas Deferens of One - Humped Camel Bull (<I>CamelusDromedaries</I>), Uda Ram and Red Sokoto Buck.” American Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering 3(5): 65.
Andrews, R. P., and E. R. ørskov. (1970) “The Nutrition of the Early Weaned Lamb: I. The Influence of Protein Concentration and Feeding Level on Rate of Gain in Body Weight.” The Journal of Agricultural Science 75(1): 11–18.
Delgadillo, J. A. et al. (2020) ’Undernutrition reduces the body weight and testicular size of bucks exposed to long days but not their ability to stimulate reproduction of seasonally anestrous goats. Animal 14, 2562–2569.
Duncan, D.B. (1955) ‘Multiple range and multiple F tests. Biometrics. 11: 1-42.
Dunn, T. G. & Moss, G. E. (1992) ‘Effects of nutrient deficiencies and excesses on reproductive efficiency of livestock. J. Anim. Sci. 70, 1580–1593.
Elmaz, Ö. et al. (2007) ‘Effect of two dietary protein levels on testosterone, testicular parameters and semen quality in ram lambs during pubertal development. Med. Weter. 63, 1177–1180.
Fernández, M. et al. (2004) ‘Effect of undegradable protein supply on testicular size, spermiogram parameters and sexual behavior of mature Assaf rams’, Theriogenology, 62(1–2), pp. 299–310. doi:
10.1016/j.theriogenology.2003.10.003.
Ghorbankhani, F. et al. (2015) ‘Effect of nutritional state on semen characteristics, testicular size and serum testosterone concentration in Sanjabi ram lambs during the natural breeding season.’, Animal reproduction science, 153, pp. 22–28. doi: 10.1016/j.anireprosci. 2014.12.006.
Hughes SW. (2005) ‘Archimedes revisited: A faster, better, cheaper method of accurately measuring the volume of small objects. Physics Education;40(5):468-474. doi:10.1088/0031-9120/40/5/008.
Ibrahim, A. A. et al. (2012) ‘Biometric Study of the Reproductive Organs of Three Breeds of Sheep in Nigeria’, International Journal of Morphology, 30(4), pp. 1597–1603. doi: 10.4067/s0717-95022012000400053.
Martin, G. B., Sutherland, S. R. D. and Lindsay, D. R. (1987) ‘Effects of nutritional supplements on testicular size and the secretion of LH and testosterone in Merino and Booroola rams’, Animal Reproduction Science, 12(4), pp. 267–281. doi: 10.1016/0378-4320(87)90098-4.
Martinez, J. M. et al. (2012) ‘Biometry and Testicular Growth Influenced Nutrition on Prepubertal Pelibuey Lambs By’, Online Journal of Animal and Feed Research, 2(3), pp. 314–321.
Mukasa-Mugerwa, E. and Ezaz, Z. (1992) ‘Relationship of testicular growth and size to age, body weight and onset of puberty in Menz ram lambs’, Theriogenology, 38(5), pp. 979–988. doi: 10.1016/0093-691X (92)90172-N.
Pruitt, R. J. et al. (1986) ‘Effect of energy intake after weaning on the sexual development of beef bulls. II. Age at first mating, age at puberty, testosterone and scrotal circumference.’, Journal of animal science, 63(2), pp. 579–585. doi: 10.2527/jas1986.632579x.
Salhab, S. A. et al. (2001) ‘Development of testicular dimensions and size, and their relationship to age, body weight and parental size in growing Awassi ram lambs’, Small Ruminant Research, 40(2), pp. 187–191. doi: 10.1016/S0921-4488(00)00224-8.
Shalet, S. M. (2009) ‘Normal testicular function and spermatogenesis’, Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 53(2), pp. 285–288. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.22000.
SPPP (2019). Statistical Package for Social Sciences, Ver. 26, IBM publications, USA.
Surai, P. F. et al. (2019) ‘Nutritional modulation of the antioxidant capacities in poultry: the case of vitamin E’, Poultry Science, 98(9), pp. 4030–4041. doi: 10.3382/ps/pez072.
Thatcher CD, Ph D. (1985) ’Effects of Nutrition and Management of the Dry and Fresh Cow on Fertility;(21):172-179.
Williams, T. D. (2018) ‘Nutrition and reproduction, birds’, Encyclopedia of Reproduction, 6(July), pp. 749–756. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-809633-8.20657-2.
Winters, S. (1999) ‘Current status of testosterone replacement therapy in men’, Archives of Family Medicine, 8(3), pp. 257–263. doi: 10.1001/archfami.8.3.257.
Yugal Raj, B. et al. (2013) ‘Effects of Nutrition on Haematology of Rabbits: a Review’, Advances in Applied Science Research., 4(1), pp. 421–429.
Published
2022-05-23
How to Cite
AL-DOSKI, S. H. (2022). EFFECT OF DIFFERENT DIETARY PROTEIN LEVELS ON TESTOSTERONE AND TESTICULAR PARAMETERS IN AWASSI LAMBS. Journal of Duhok University, 25(1), 11-16. https://doi.org/10.26682/ajuod.2022.25.1.2
Section
Agriculture and Veterinary Science