Spermatogenesis in sheep supplemented with detoxified castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) as a replacement for soybean meal

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the effect of replacing soybean meal with the detoxified castor bean cake on testicular morphometry and spermatogenesis of sheep. Were used 24 uncastrated, 9-month old sheep weighing 29±0.8 kg they were randomly distributed among three treatments: T1 = 0%, T2 = 50%, and T3 = 100% substitution of soybean meal with detoxified castor bean cake. The animals were fed with Aruana grass pastage (Panicum maximum ‘Aruana’) and a ration for 90 days. After slaughtering, the testicles were collected and histological slides were prepared with tissue fragments. The data were evaluated for normality using the Shapiro-Wilk test, and analysis of variance was carried out at 5% level of significance. Substitution of soybean meal with detoxified castor bean cake had no effect on any of the assessed variables at the tested levels (P >0.05). The mean yield of spermatogenesis was 72.91 rounded spermatids per spermatogonium; the mean of total number of germ cells held by a Sertoli cell was 12.09; the mean of the testicular spermatic reserve was 31.82×109 and that per testicular gram was 238.28×106; the mean of daily spermatic production was 3.03×109 and that per testicular gram was 22.69×106; and the total number of Sertoli cells was 4.15×109 and that per testicular gram was 34.51×106. The results show that it is possible to replace 100% of the soybean meal with detoxified castor bean cake in sheep diet without any effects on spermatogenesis; however, it is important to perform seminal evaluations in future studies.

Sheep spermatogenesis is affected by the nutritional levels of cocoa meal, a byproduct of cocoa butter manufacturing rich in theobromine and caffeine

“…The reduced PL count in the group treated with 10% cocoa meal does not seem to have a biological justification. It is common for degenerative processes to occur in germline cells (Amann, 1962), and PL are usually the most vulnerable (Andreussi et al, 2014;Rocha et al, 2020). However, for this reasoning to be valid, the groups treated with higher cocoa meal concentrations would also have to exhibit reduced PL levels.…”

“…Studies have suggested a common variation in the spermatogenesis of small ruminants (Leal et al, 2004;Sousa et al, 2014;Rocha et al, 2020), which can be justified by degenerative alterations or nutritional (Souza et al, 2014) and genetic factors (Andreussi et al, 2014). This variation may influence the dynamics of spermatogenesis growth waves (Perey et al, 1961), thus promoting a wide range of said waves within the species and even in different seminiferous tubules of the same animal.…”