The addition of selenium and vitamin E to the diet and its effect on body weight, semen characteristics and testosterone in V-line breed rabbits

This research aims to study the  effect of dietary of selenium and vitamin E on body weight and reproductive performance in rabbit. A total of 80 male rabbits at two months age and average of initial live body weight was 2.27 kg. Animals were separately housed in wire-cages. The light-dark period was controlled to be 16 h of light and 8 h of darkness. The animals were randomly assigned to the following: four experimental treatments (n=20 each): T1: Control group that fed basal diet, T2: Fed basal diet + 0.1 mg organic Se / kg diet, T3: Fed basal diet + 40 mg α-tocopherol acetate / kg diet and T4: Fed basal diet + 40 mg α-tocopherol acetate / kg diet + 0.1 mg organic Se/kg diet, The diet contains 18% protein, 2850 kcal. These measurements recorded body weight, semen collection and evaluation, ejaculate volume, mass motility, percentage of progressive sperm motility, percentage of dead sperm (%), percentage of abnormal spermatozoa (%), acrosomal damages, hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS-test) reacted spermatozoa (%), and testosterone hormone concentration. The results can summarize the changes of averages body weight that were not significant among treatment, while means of ejaculate volume, the percentage of mass motility, acrosome damages, progressive motility, and testosterone levels were significantly the highest (P˂0.05). The percentage of dead sperms, percentage of abnormalities, HOS-test, was significantly the lowest in treatment group. From this study, it is recommended to add selenium and vitamin E to the diet of rabbits.