Age of Puberty and Fertility of Male New Zealand White Rabbits Orally Administered With Royal Jelly or/ and Bee Honey

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of royal jelly (RJ) or/ and bee honey (H) on age of sexual puberty, semen quality and fertility of male New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. Eighty pre-pubertal male NZW rabbits and 80 hybrid nonparous female rabbits were used in the present study. Male rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups (20 bucks per group), bucks were administered orally with 0.5 mL of a solution/ kg body weight (BW), 3 times weekly for 6 weeks; which contained: 1) water for control (1 st group), 2) 0.25 mL bee honey + 0.25 mL water (2 nd group), 3) 200 mg royal jelly + 0.5 mL water (3 rd group) and 200 mg royal jelly + 0.25 mL honey + 0.25 mL water (4 th group). The results of the present study showed that pre-pubertal NZW rabbits received RJ or/ H and showed significantly earlier (P<0.05) puberty age (earlier ages at testis descending into scrotum, separation of penis from sheath, beginning of fighting, first ejaculated sperm, appearance of sperm in testis and epididymis); decrease (P<0.05) of reaction time, increase of ejaculate volume, percentage of sperm progressive motility, sperm-cell concentration and seminal plasma fructose concentration compared to control group. On the other hand, percentages of dead and abnormal spermatozoa increased significantly (P<0.05) for control group compared to the other three groups. Blood plasma concentrations of testosterone and cholesterol increased significantly (P<0.05) for royal jelly or/ and bee honey groups compared with control. Otherwise, plasma activities of aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alanine amino transferase (ALT) differed non-significantly among groups. Rabbit bucks treated with royal jelly or/ and bee honey showed better fertility (higher conception rate and litter size) than control bucks. In conclusion, the results of the present study showed that oral administration of royal jelly or/ and bee honey at any level could be used beneficially to have earlier puberty age, improve semen quality and fertility of male NZW rabbits. This improvement was also mirrored on better liver functions as observed with normal concentrations of AST and ALT.

Semen Physical Characteristics, Blood Parameters and Some Physiological Estimates of Rabbit Bucks Administered With Bee Pollen Under Upper Egypt Climatic Conditions

“…These findings are in agreement with those of El-Hanoun et al (2014), which indicated that the sexual libido was significantly reduced in V-line rabbit bucks, which received RJ at 100 and 150 mg/kg than that of the control group. Also, Khadr et al, (2015) found that the reaction time (RT) of male NZW rabbits treated with both of royal jelly and honey decreased significantly (P<0.05) as compared with those of the control group. Similarly, the findings of Elnagar (2010) showed that the sexual libido and semen characteristics of rabbit bucks administrated with royal jelly or/ and honey increased significantly than those of the control.…”

“…Through the last thirty years, it became important to produce safe animal and poultry products by using natural resources as different feed additives (herbal seed, bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis) which improve their production performance without any adverse effects (El-Neney andEl-Kholy, 2014 andKhadr et al, 2015).…”

The Toxic Effect Of Sildenafil Citrate On Adult Albino Rat Testis And The Possible Protective Role Of Royal Jelly (Histological And Immunohistochemical Study)

“…This result was agreed by [34] in which it showed that oral administration of royal jelly at any level could be used beneficially to have earlier puberty age, improve semen quality and fertility of male rabbits. [35] Concluded that supplementation of RJ in freezing extender can improve the cryosurvival rate and in vitro fertilizing capacity of buffalo bull sperm.…”

Useful impacts of royal jelly on reproductive sides, fertility rate and sperm traits of animals

“…Numerous previous research reports claimed affirmative impacts of RJ on reproductive efficiency and hormonal regulation of animals (Khadr, Abdou, & El-Sherbiny, 2015;Mahdivand et al, 2019;Yang et al, 2012). Furthermore, RJ is excessively rich in essential minerals such as iron, potassium, zinc, magnesium and copper (Table 1).…”

“…The oral treatment of male rats with RJ (1 g/kg BW) significantly augmented the testis weight and the epididymis body (Hassan, 2009). Khadr et al (2015)…”