ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of cocoa meal in feed concentrate on the spermatogenesis in sheep. Twenty-five uncastrated males were divided into four groups and fed concentrated feed, supplemented with 0, 10, 20, and 30% cocoa meal, respectively, for 150 days. At the end of this period, the animals were slaughtered, the testicles were collected for histological slides, and testicular morphometric assessments were conducted, including cell type quantification in the seminiferous epithelium, intrinsic spermatogenesis yield, Sertoli-cell index, total number of Sertoli cells (TNSC), TNSC per testicular gram, daily sperm production (DSP), DSP per testicular gram, testicular sperm reserve (TSR), and TSR per testicular gram. Data were subjected to normality analysis using the Shapiro-Wilk test, followed by the tests for each condition, at a significance level of 5%. The administration of cocoa meal did not alter the germinal epithelial cell population, except for the number of type-A spermatogonia, which was lower in the control group than in the group that received 20% supplementation. A difference was found in the ratio between the number of type-A spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes in pre-leptotene/leptotene, and in the ratio between Sertoli cells and primary spermatocytes in pre-leptotene/leptotene, the control group and the group that received 10% cocoa meal significantly varied from each other, but not in relation to the other evaluated percentages. The TNSC, TNSC/g, DSP, and TSR levels were diminished in the group that consumed 30% cocoa meal. The TNSC, DSP, and TSR exhibited a negative quadratic tendency. Supplementation with 10% cocoa meal improved the TNSC, DSP, and TSR of sheep.

Abstract The effects of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the diluent for cryopreservation of goat semen on seminal quality and the optimal levels to be used were evaluated. After collection, semen was pooled and physically evaluated, then divided into four aliquots with different DHA levels in the diluent: 0, 10, 20, and 30 ng mL-1. The semen was cryopreserved in a TK 3000® freezing machine and then thawed for assessment at 37 °C. Sperm motility and vigor, membrane integrity, acrosomal integrity, mitochondrial activity, and sperm chromatin compaction were evaluated after thawing. A completely randomized design was used. For normally distributed variables, ANOVA and regression analysis were used to test for differences between treatments, and for non-parametric data, the Kruskal Wallis test was used at the 5% significance level. There were no differences among groups in terms of membrane integrity, acrosomal integrity, or chromatin compaction. There was a decrease in class I mitochondrial activity with increasing DHA level (P<0.05), but no differences in classes II, III, and IV (P>0.05). The inclusion of 10 to 30 ng mL-1 of DHA in the diluent did not result in improvements in seminal quality parameters after thawing, with some impairment observed in the mitochondrial activity of the sperm cells.

ABSTRACT This study aimed to assess the effects of palm kernel cake on semen quality and biochemical parameters of Santa Inês lambs. A total of 40 animals with 24.10±2.72 kg body weight and five months old were assigned in a completely randomized design into four groups and 10 replicates. The animals were subjected to four levels of palm kernel cake (0, 15, 30, and 45%) based on dry matter. The trial lasted 90 days foregone by 15 days for adaptation. Blood samples were collected every 45 days from jugular vein using vacuum tubes without anticoagulant. Total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, and very-low-density lipoprotein were assessed. Once the animals reached puberty at a mean age of 225 days, the semen samples were collected by electroejaculator once a week for three sequence weeks and assessed for volume, color, aspect, wave motion, motility, sperm concentration, sperm vigor, total of spermatozoa per ejaculate, viable spermatozoa per mL, and sperm morphology. The data were subjected to analysis of variance and followed by regression analysis. Non-parametric data were analysed by Kruskal-Wallis test. Total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, and very-low-density lipoprotein were linearly increased. There was no difference for low-density lipoprotein. Diets did not affect mass motility, sperm motility, vigor, total spermatozoa per ejaculate, viability sperm per mL, and minor and total sperm defects. Sperm concentration increased linearly. Negative quadratic effects were observed for major sperm defects. Supplementation of diets with palm kernel cake up to 45% on dry matter enhance biochemical parameters and do not impair the qualitative variables of lamb sperm.