Vitamin E and Fertility in the Poultry Birds; Deficiency of Vitamin E and its Hazardous Effects

Abstract

Vitamin E plays a significant role in growth, tissue integrity, reproduction, nervous system and disease resistance. Fertility plays a vital role in human, animals and avian species. But, several factor such as climatic variation, diet, minerals, and vitamins can affect fertility. Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant and increases disease resistance against infectious agents in animals which, in response, increases fertility in animals and poultry birds. Vitamin E performs an excellent role in birds including egg production, egg fertility, hatchability, sperm motility, conception rate, and postnatal growth. Its main function is to inhibit the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cells and tissues. In addition, Vitamin E provides biological stability to spermatozoal plasma membranes in male birds and maintains the egg quality in female birds by preventing the generation of ROS. Numerous studies have described that vitamin E deficiency reduced fertility in humans and avian species. However, very less data is available on vitamin E supplementation and its deficiency on the fertility of poultry birds. Therefore, this paper aim was to explore the effects of the supplementation of vitamin E on the fertility of poultry birds in order to understand the beneficial role of vitamin E in the maintenance of sperm and egg qualities. This review may provide important scientific information to better understand the mechanism of vitamin E and its possible effects on fertility functions in the poultry species.