Influence of Selenium, viamin E and Zn on semen quality of Baluchi rams

Abstract

Selenium has an important role in spermatogenesis and is a constitute tail of the sperm as a seleno-flagellate. Vitamin E also is an antioxidant reagent which plays a critical role in preventing reactive oxygen spoils (ROS). Over 200 protein and enzyme contain Zn and some of these enzymes may be of particular importance in function of reproductive tissues, but little information is known about that. An experiment conducted to evaluate the effect of selenium, vitamin E and Zn on reproductive performance on 20 Blochi ram (2 year old) which matched for weight and condition and were given A: basal diet, B: basal diet plus selenium vitamin E, C: basal diet plus Zn and D: basal diet containing selenium vitamin E and Zn for 63 days. Semen was collected 47 and 63 days after start of experiment and was assessed in vitro for volume of ejaculate, mortality, number of live spermatozoa and number of abnormal spermatozoa. No significant effects in growth rates between treated ram were found. Abnormal sperm were found in much greater number in the semen from the untreated rams. However, injection of selenium vitamin E significantly improved viable and normal sperm and differences was statistically significant (P<0.05). Although supplementation of Zn in the ram improved semen quality compared to control group but when Zn and selenium vitamin E were applied together more significant results were obtained (P<0.05). Although in this experiment admission of selenium vitamin E plus Zn had a good effects on semen quality when applied at least 47 days semen collection, however, itis recommended that further trails be conducted on this important subject using large number of animals.