Effect of increasing levels of wasted date palm in concentrate diet on reproductive performance of Ouled Djellal breeding rams during flushing period

Vet World Vol.11 May-2018 Article-21

Research Article

Veterinary World, 11(5): 712-719

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2018.712-719

A. Allaoui¹, B. Safsaf¹, M. Tlidjane¹, I. Djaalab², and H. Djaalab Mansour²

1. Department of Veterinary Sciences, Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences Institute, Laboratory ESPA, Hadj Lakhdar Batna-1 University, Batna - 05000, Algeria.
2. Department of Animal Productions, Veterinary Sciences Institute, Laboratory GSPA, Mentouri University, Constantine -25000, Algeria.

Background and Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the effect of two levels of wasted date (WD) by replacing commercial concentrate on the reproductive performance of Ouled Djellal (OD) rams.

Materials and Methods: Eighteen mature (2-year-old) OD rams were equally allocated to three groups and fed during 11 weeks with one of three different experimental diets, that contained 0% (0 WD), 50% (50 WD), or 75% (75 WD) of WDs in concentrate diet. Live body weight (LBW), body condition scoring (BCS), scrotal circumference (SC), testicular weight (TW), sperm production and quality, plasma testosterone concentration (T), and sexual behavior (reaction time and number of mounts with ejaculation) were regularly recorded from every ram.

Results: LBW, SC, and TW changed significantly among diet groups and during the experimental period (p<0.001), the highest averages were recorded in (0 WD) group. LBW, BCS, SC, TW, semen volume, and percentage of the positive hypo-osmotic swelling test were (p<0.001) positively influenced by flushing period. Nevertheless, sperm concentration showed a significant (p<0.001) decrease at day 30, followed by a return to the initial values afterward. There were no differences (p>0.05) between diet groups for plasma testosterone concentration and semen attributes, except that (50 WD) group expressed the lowest overall value of semen concentration. Furthermore, neither time nor diet affected (p>0.05) sperm motility and reproductive behavior parameters.

Conclusion: It is possible to introduce WD as unconventional local feeding resources in flushing diet of breeding rams without disturbing their reproductive performance. Keywords: body weight, flushing period, rams, semen, wasted date.

Keywords: body weight, flushing period, rams, semen, wasted date.

How to cite this article: Allaoui A, Safsaf B, Tlidjane M, Djaalab I, Mansour HD (2018) Effect of increasing levels of wasted date palm in concentrate diet on reproductive performance of Ouled Djellal breeding rams during flushing period, Veterinary World, 11(5): 712-719.

Received: 28-01-2018 Accepted: 27-04-2018 Published online: 28-05-2018

Corresponding author: A. Allaoui E-mail: allaouiassia@yahoo.fr

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2018.712-719

Copyright: Allaoui, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.