ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2014, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (4): 587-595.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2014.04.012

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The Effects of Vitamin E,Beta-carotene and Zinc on Semen Quality,Antioxidant Indicators in Hot Weather

LI Qiu-feng1,2,3,LI Jian-guo1,2,3*,WU Yun-hai4,MA Ya-bin4,LIU Xing-hua4,GAO Yan-xia1,2,3,CAO Yu-feng1,2,3,LIU Ting-yu4   

  1. (1.College of Animal Science and Technology,Agricultural University of Hebei,Baoding 071001, China;2.Embryo Engineering and Technological Center of Cattle and Sheep of Hebei,Baoding 071001, China;3.Cattle Science Institute,Agricultural University of Hebei,Baoding 071001, China;4.Animal Husbandry Workstation of Hebei Province,Shijiazhuang 050061, China )
  • Received:2013-09-14 Online:2014-04-23 Published:2014-04-23

Abstract:

 The effects of dietary vitamins (vitamin E and beta-carotene) and zinc on semen quality,antioxidant indicators of Holstein bull in hot weather were analyzed.Sixty healthy and purebred Holstein bulls (BW=1 010± 80 kg) were randomly classified into 4 groups (n=15):group Ⅰ:control group (basal diet); group II:basal diet +100 mg•kg-1DMZn; group III:basal diet+antioxidant (300 mg•kg-1DMvitamin E and 60 mg•kg-1DMbeta-carotene) and group IV:basal diet +100 mg•kg-1DMZn + vitamins (300 mg•kg-1DMvitamin E and 60 mg•kg-1DMbeta-carotene).The trial duration was 120 days.The results showed that vitamins and zinc could significantly increase the semen quality,vitality of fresh semen (group Ⅳ 0.649 vs groupⅠ0.575),sperm density (group Ⅳ 15.16×108 mL-1 vs groupⅠ11.81×108 mL-1),vitality of frozen semen (group Ⅳ 0.34 vs groupⅠ0.283) and acrosome integrity rate (group Ⅳ 45.2% vs groupⅠ41.8%) but decreased the sperm deformity rate significantly (group Ⅳ13.47% vs groupⅠ 16.81%).However,there was no significant effect on ejaculate volume (group Ⅳ11.56 mL vs groupⅠ10.33 mL).In addition,the serum Cu-Zn SOD activity could be significantly increased by the supplemental vitamins or vitamins + zinc(P<0.01); the individual or combination of supplemental vitamins and zinc significantly positively affected the serum T-AOC(P<0.01); and GSH-PX activity significantly (P<0.01); the serum MDA (P=0.053 5) concentration and hydroxyl radicals (P=0.069 8) were markedly reduced as the result of adding vitamins and zinc.Supplemental vitamins significantly increased the total SOD(P<0.01)and T-AOC(P<0.01)activities in seminal plasma; the Cu-Zn SOD activity (P<0.05) in seminal plasma was increased by the addition of zinc.In conclusion,a diet with 300 mg•kg-1DMof vitamin E,60 mg•kg-1DMof beta-carotenoids and 100 mg•kg-1DMZn could improve the semen quality in hot weather.

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