Pomegranate peel as a natural antioxidant boosts bucks' fertility under Egyptian summer conditions
Submitted: 2011-09-25
|Accepted: 2012-10-27
|Published: 2013-03-20
Downloads
Keywords:
rabbit, heat stress, pomegranate peel, sperm, antioxidant
Supporting agencies:
Alexandria university
Abstract:
Exposure of male rabbits to heat stress during summer adversely affects their fertility, leading to major production losses. A total of 16 male rabbits were randomly divided into 4 experimental groups exposed to temperatures ranging from a high of 30.3 to a low of 27.3 °C. Animals from first to fourth groups were fed diets containing 0, 1.5, 3.0, or 4.5% pomegranate peel (PP) to evaluate the ability of PP feeding to enhance bucks’ reproductive status. Pomegranate peel treatments significantly increased ejaculate volume by 19, 18 and 12%, increased seminal plasma fructose by 7, 18, and 24%, improved sperm motility by 28, 34 and 49%, increased sperm total output by 37, 69 and 102% and reduced dead sperm by 24, 32 and 64% with diets containing 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5% of PP compared to the heat stressed control animals. Seminal plasma total lipids, cholesterol and triglycerides increased while alkaline phosphatase decreased with PP treatments. Seminal plasma total antioxidant capacity increased to reach 126, 143 and 191% with diets containing 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5% of PP, while lipid peroxide (malondialdehyde) levels decreased significantly to reach around 54% of the heat stressed bucks’ value with the three PP dietary doses used. It was concluded that supplementations of PP in the diet of bucks during summer season in Egypt can improve their semen characteristics, probably due to their antioxidant actions.
References:
Abdou M.S.S., El-Guindi M.M., El-Menoufy A.A., Zaki K. 1978. Enzymic Profile of the Semen of Bovines (Bubalus bubalis and Bos taurus). Zbl. Vet. Med. A, 25: 222-230. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0442.1978.tb00922.x
Akiyama M. 1999. In vivo scavenging effect of ethylcysteine on reactive oxygen species in human semen. Nippon Hinyokika Gakkai Zasshi, 90: 421-428.
AOAC. 1995. Official Methods of Analysis, 15th Ed. Association of Official Analytical Chemist, Washington, DC, USA.
Aviram M., Volkova N., Coleman R., Dreher M., Reddy M.K., Ferreira D., Rosenblat M. 2008. Pomegranate phenolics from the peels, arils, and flowers are antiatherogenic: Studies in vivo in atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E-deficient (E0) mice and in vitro in cultured macrophages and lipoproteins. J. Agr. Food Chem., 56: 1148-1157. doi:10.1021/jf071811q
Chidambara M.K.N., Reddy V.K., Veigas J.M., Murthy U.D. 2004. Study on wound healing activity of Punica granatum peel. J. Med. Food, 7: 256-259. doi:10.1089/1096620041224111
De Blas C., Mateos G.G. 1998. Feed formulation. In: De Blas C., Wiseman J. (Eds), The nutrition of the rabbit. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau, Wallingford, UK, pp. 241-253.
Duncan D.B. 1955. Multiple range and multiple F tests. Biometrics, 11: 1-42. doi:10.2307/3001478
Eid Y.Z. 2008. Dietary grape pomace affects lipid peroxidation and antioxidative status in rabbit semen. World Rabbit Sci., 16: 157-164. doi:10.4995/wrs.2008.624
Elnagar S.A. 2010. Royal jelly counteracts bucks’ “summer infertility”. Anim. Reprod. Sci., 121: 174-180. doi:10.1016/j.anireprosci.2010.05.008
Gracious R.R., Selvasubramanian S., Jayasundar S. 2001. Immunomodulatory activity of Punica granatum in rabbits –a preliminary study. J. Ethnopharmacol., 78: 85-87. doi:10.1016/S0378-8741(01)00287-2
Guo C., Wei J., Yang J., Xu J., Pang W., Jiang Y. 2008. Pomegranate juice is potentially better than apple juice in improving antioxidant function in elderly subjects. Nutr. Res., 28: 72-77. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2007.12.001
Huxley R.R., Neil H.A.W. 2003. The relation between dietary flavonol intake and coronary heart disease mortality: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr., 57: 904-908. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601624
International Rabbit Reproduction Group. 2005. Guidelines for the handling of rabbit bucks and semen. World Rabbit Sci., 13: 71- 91. doi:10.4995/wrs.2005.527
Kamar G.A.R. 1960. The influence of semen characteristics on hatching results of chicken eggs. Poultry Sci., 39: 188-192. doi:10.3382/ps.0390188 Lee K.W.,
Lee H.J., Kang K.S., Lee C.Y. 2002. Preventive effects of vitamin C on carcinogenesis. The Lancet. 359: 172. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)07358-0
Li Y., Guo C., Yang J., Wei J., Xu J., Cheng S. 2006. Evaluation of antioxidant properties of pomegranate peel extract in comparison with pomegranate pulp extract. Food Chem., 96: 245-260. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.02.033
Mangiagalli M.G, Cesari V., Cerolini S., Luzi F., Tosci I. 2012. Effect of lycopene supplementation on semen quality and reproductive performance in rabbit. World Rabbit Sci., 20: 141-148. doi:10.4995/wrs.2012.1150
Mann T. 1948. Fructose content and fructolysis in semen. Practical application in the evaluation of semen quality. J. Agr. Sci., 38: 323-331. doi:10.1017/S0021859600006109
Marai I.F.M., Habeeb A.A., Daader A.H., Yousef H.M. 1995. Effects of Egyptian subtropical summer conditions and the heat-stress alleviation technique of water spray and a diaphoretic on the growth and physiological functions of Friesian calves. J. Arid Environ., 30: 219-225. doi:10.1016/S0140-1963(05)80073-4
Marai I.F.M., Habeeb A.A.M, Gad A.E. 2002. Rabbits’ productive, reproductive and physiological performance traits as affected by heat stress: a review. Livest. Prod. Sci., 78: 71-90. doi:10.1016/S0301-6226(02)00091-X
Martin A.D., Gilbert D. 1968. Enzyme change accompanying liver enlargement in rats treated with 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole. Biochem. J., 106: 22-23.
Mhdavi D.L., Salunkhe D.K. 1995. Toxicological aspects of food antioxidant. In: Mhdavi D.L., Deshpande S.S., Salunkhe D.K. “Food Antioxidants”, (Eds.) Marcel Dekker, New York.
Moule G.R. 1965. Field investigations with sheep: a manual of techniques. G.R. Moule (ed.) CSIRO, Division of Animal Physiology, Melbourne, Australia.
Navarro V., Villarreal M.L., Rojas G., Lozoya X. 1996. Antimicrobial evaluation of some plants used in Mexican traditional medicine for the treatment of infectious diseases. J. Ethnopharmacol., 53: 143-147. doi:10.1016/0378-8741(96)01429-8
Roberts K.P. 1998. Y-chromosome deletions and male infertility: state of the art and clinical implications. J. Androl., 19: 255-259.
Sahin K., Sahin N., Onderci M., Yaralioglu S., Kucuk O. 2001. Protective role of supplemental vitamin E on lipid peroxiddation, vitamins E, A and some mineral concentrations of broilers reared under heat stress. Vet. Med.Czech., 46: 140-144.
SAS Institute. 1996. SAS® User’s Guide: Statistics. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC,USA.
Shaffer H.E., Almquist J.O. 1948. Vital staining of bovine spermatozoa with an eosin-aniline blue staining mixture. J. Dairy Sci., 31: 677-678.
Singh R.P., Jayaprakasha G.K., Sakariah K.K. 2001. A process for the extraction of antioxidants from pomegranate peels. Submitted for Indian Patent No. 392/Del/01, 29 March 2001.
Smith J.T., Mayer D.T. 1955. Evaluation of sperm concentration by the hemocytometer method. Fertil. Steril., 6: 271-275.
Türk G., Sönmez M., Aydin M., Yüce A., Gür S., Yüksel M., Aksu E.H., Aksoy H. 2008. Effects of pomegranate juice consumption on sperm quality, spermatogenic cell density, antioxidant activity and testosterone level in male rats. J. Clin. Nutr., 27: 289-296. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2007.12.006
Türk G., Sönmez M., Çeribaşı A.O., Yüce A., Ateşşahin A. 2010. Attenuation of cyclosporine A-induced testicular and spermatozoal damages associated with oxidative stress by ellagic acid. Int. Immunopharmacol., 10: 177-182. doi:10.1016/j.intimp.2009.10.013
Tzulker R., Glazer I., Bar-Ilan I., Holland D., Aviram M., Amir R. 2007. Antioxidant activity, polyphenol content, and related compounds in different fruit juices and homogenates prepared from 29 different pomegranate accessions. J. Agr. Food Chem., 55: 9559-9570. doi:10.1021/jf071413n
Whitley A.C., Stoner G.D., Darby M.V., Walle T. 2003. Intestinal epithelial cell accumulation of the cancer preventive polyphenol ellagic acid–extensive binding to protein and DNA. Biochem. Pharmacol., 66: 907-915. doi:10.1016/S0006-2952(03)00413-1
Yousef M.I., Abdallah G.A., Kamel K.I. 2003. Effect of ascorbic acid and Vitamin E supplementation on semen quality and biochemical parameters of male rabbits. Anim. Reprod. Sci., 76: 99-111. doi:10.1016/S0378-4320(02)00226-9
