Nutritional impact of nano-selenium, garlic oil, and their combination on growth and reproductive performance of male Californian rabbits

摘要

This study aimed to investigate the effects of nano-selenium (nano-Se), garlic oil, and their combination on nutrients digestibility, semen quality, serum testosterone and metabolites of male Californian rabbits. A total of 80 rabbits (120 days of age) were randomly distributed into four treatment groups of 20 rabbits each. Treatment groups were fed a control diet, a control diet supplemented with nano-Se (400 mu g/kg), control diet supplemented with garlic oil (700 mg/kg), or control diet supplemented with combination of nano-Se (400 mu g/kg) and garlic oil (700 mg/kg). The feeding trial lasted for 60 days. The results showed that improvements were observed in body weight (BW) gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in nano-Se treated group than non supplemented group, and an interaction effect was observed on final BW of rabbits. The digestibility of all measured nutrients were significantly higher (P 0.01) for animals fed nano Se, garlic oil, and the combination group compared to their non-supplemented counterparts. Furthermore, semen characteristics were significantly improved (P 0.01) in nano-Se and garlic oil supplemented groups compared to non-supplemented groups. Likewise, supplementation of nano-Se, garlic oil, and their combination significantly improved liver and kidney functions as indicated from serum metabolites, and increased serum testosterone hormone levels. Therefore, it can be concluded that nano-Se or garlic oil and their combination improved the nutrients digestibility, semen quality, kidney and liver functions, and testosterone levels in male rabbits.