Study of the effects of dietary lutein on reproductive performances in chickens
2007
Pizzey, H.(University of Guelph, Ontario (Canada)) | Bedecarrats, Y.
The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of lutein on reproductive performances in mature chickens. At 40 weeks of age, 15 Barred Rock roosters (n=5 per treatment) and 108 hens (n=36 per treatment) were randomly assigned to one of three groups and fed ad libitum a standard diet supplemented with 0, 30, or 120 ppm lutein. Semen was collected from each rooster by abdominal massage twice weekly, and sperm analyses (concentration, viability, and motility) were performed on individual semen samples collected the day before (d0) and 19 (d19) and 29 (d29) days after introduction to diets. Semen collected on d31, d32, and d37 was pooled according to treatment, and used to inseminate 1 replicate of hens (n=12) per treatment. Eggs were candled at 9 and 14 days to determine fertility, and stage of embryonic mortality (early, mid, late) was assessed by breaking out all unhatched eggs. Although no significant difference in sperm concentration, motility, or viability was observed between treatments, roosters fed the 120 ppm lutein diet tended to display a higher sperm motility and viability at d29 (P0.05).
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