Effect of herbal supplements (nettle and rosehip) on the sperm quality in Danube White breed boars

Gergana Yordanova, Danail Kanev, Yordan Marchev, Radka Nedeva, Tanya Nikolova, Nadezhda Palova

Abstract: An experiment with 5 boars from the Danube White breed, raised and fed individually, was conducted in Agricultural Institute – Shumen. The experiment was divided into two sub-periods – a 40-day control period and an experimental period with the same duration. During the control period the animals were fed with combined fodder, containing 16.4% crude protein, 0.80% lysine, 1.3% calcium, 0.68% phosphorus, and during the second sub-period – 15.5% crude protein, 0.85% lysine, 0.63% calcium and 0.45% phosphorus. In the experimental period the boars were fed with the same combined fodder, to which was added 20 g of herbal supplement (nettle and flour from rosehip) per day per boar. From each boar was taken 10 ejaculates during the control period and 11 ejaculates during the experimental period. The following traits were controlled: health condition (daily), volume of ejaculate (ml), density of the semen, which is determined by sperm cell concentration (106/ml), pH, mobility of spermatozoa (%), pathological spermatozoa (%) and survival of spermatozoa (%) after 24, 48, 72 h of storage. The herbs tested do not affect the main quality traits of semen – volume, density and motility, but they do decrease the percentage of agglutination (p = 0.043) and tend to decrease the number of pathological spermatozoa with 14.56%. There is a tendency for lower survival of the 72-nd hour in boars that were given the herbal supplement, which requires additional studies.

Keywords: additives; boars; feed; nettle; pigs; quality of sperm; rosehip

Date published: 2020-10-19