Influence of commercial nutraceutical on the sperm parameters of fresh and thawed semen in sheep

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of oral supplementation with commercial nutraceutical content antioxidants, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals on the quality of fresh and thawed semen of sheep. Eight breeding herds were selected, divided into two groups: Group 1 (n = 4), composed of breeders supplemented with commercial nutraceuticals and Group 2 (n = 4), by breeders submitted to placebo administration. Semen collections were performed with the help of artificial vagina and the semen was evaluated according to the methodology recommended by the CBRA manual (2013). The samples were submitted to cryopreservation and subsequently evaluated. The use of the nutraceutical resulted in an improvement in the thawed semen in specific weeks. As for motility, it was possible to observe improvement on the sixth and tenth week, vigor on the tenth week and morphology on the third and tenth week. Regarding fresh semen, it was possible to observe differences only in morphology, where the treatment group presented better results in the fifth and sixth week. Therefore, the use of the commercial nutraceutical raises the parameters of motility and vigor of the frozen / thawed semen, and raises the percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa of the fresh semen from a certain post-administration period.