Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Animal and Poultry Physiology Dept., Desert Research Center, Egypt.
2
The Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climatic, Research Center, Egypt.
3
Instutute of African Research and Studies, Cairo University, Egypt.
4
Animal Production Dep. Fac. of agric., Cairo University, Egypt.
Abstract
This work aimed to study the influences of drinking saline well water and the alternation with fresh tap water every week as one of the bio-stimulation methods to reduce the harmful effects of continuous drinking saline water on reproductive performance of rabbits.
A total number of 48 V-Line rabbits old 5 months (30 does, body weight of 2955.0 ± 32.6 g and 18 bucks, body weight of 2850.0 ± 31.2 g) were used in this study. Rabbits were randomly divided into three equal groups (10 does and 6 bucks / group). Rabbits of the 1st group (G1) considered as control group drank tap water (301 ppm total dissolved solids, TDS), rabbits of 2nd group (G2) drank well water (5568 ppm TDS), while rabbits of 3rd group (G3) drank well water followed with drank fresh tap water every week until the end of experiment (alternated system).
The results showed that, conception rate was found to be higher (P<0.05) in the does of G3 (+ 21 %) than that in the does of G2. Moreover, does of G3 has insignificant decrease in the number of services per conception by - 10 % compared to the does of G2. Does of G3 had higher (P<0.05) litter traits when compared to the does of G1 and G2. On the other hand, overall mortality rate was significantly increased in the does of G2 (26.5 %) as compared to the does of G1 (10.3 %). Daily water intake was increased (P<0.05) in rabbits of G2 and G3 as compared to the rabbits of G1. Efficiency index and feed conversion were significantly improved in the rabbits of G3 when compared to the rabbits of G1 and G2. Moreover, The cost of feeding for producing one kg live weight was decreased (P<0.05) in does of G3 by 4.08 and 2.40 L.E. as compared to the rabbits of G2 and G1, respectively.
On the other hand, bucks of G2 exhibited a decrease (P<0.05) in ejaculate volume (29.3 %) as compared to the bucks of T3. Sperm concentration, total sperm output, total motile sperm and semen quality were significantly decreased in the bucks of G2 as compared to the bucks of G1. Sperm motility was decreased (P<0.05) in the bucks of G2 as compared to other groups. Also, bucks of G2 showed significantly increased in dead spermatozoa, sperm abnormalities and hydrogen ion (pH) as compared to other two treatments. Bucks drank saline water (G2) had significant increase in reaction time as compared to the bucks of G1 and G3. However, bucks of G2 had insignificantly decreased testosterone hormone by 36.9 and 32.5 % as compared to the bucks of G1 and G3, respectively.
Conclusively, applying alternating water system as a bio-stimulation method could eliminate the drastic effects of continuous drinking saline well water on reproductive performance of rabbits under new reclaimed lands.
Keywords
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