Dietary quercetin maintains the semen quality in rabbits under summer heat stress

• Published in: Theriogenology Vol. 122; pp. 88 - 93
• Main Authors: Naseer, Zahid, Ahmad, Ejaz, Şahiner, Hande Sultan, Epikmen, Erkmen Tuğrul, Fiaz, Muhammad, Yousuf, Muhamad Rizwan, Khan, Shahzad Akbar, Serin, İlker, Ceylan, Ahmet, Aksoy, Melih
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.12.2018
• Subjects: Animals; Antioxidants - pharmacology; Dietary Supplements; Heat stress; Heat-Shock Response - drug effects; Male; Quercetin; Quercetin - pharmacology; Rabbit; Rabbits - physiology; Semen Analysis - veterinary; Sperm quality; Rabbit; Sperm quality; Heat stress; Quercetin
• ISSN: 0093-691X; 1879-3231
• DOI: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2018.09.009

This study focused to determine beneficial impact of feeding quercetin supplemented diet on semen quality in summer heat imposed rabbits. Twelve heat stressed (HS) adult rabbits bucks were either fed with basal diet (HS; n = 06) or quercetin supplemented diet (QU-HS; n = 06) for a period of 56 days. Semen samples were collected and evaluated for volume, osmolality, morphology, concentration, motility, motion kinetics, viability, acrosome integrity, mitochondrial potential, and seminal plasma MDA level. Semen volume, concentration, motility and sperm kinetics parameters were affected by diet supplementation. Diet affected the sperm mitochondrial potential and day of treatment affected the viable sperm percentage. There was an effect of diet, day of treatment and diet by day interaction on acrosome reaction rate. Sperm head abnormalities were influenced by diet provision, sperm mid-piece abnormalities were affected by diet and day of treatment, whereas, the effect of diet and diet by day of treatment interaction were observed for total sperm abnormalities. There was an effect of diet and diet by day interaction for seminal plasma MDA level. In conclusions, quercetin reduces the damaging effects of HS and maintains the semen quality by lowering the oxidative stress in rabbits. •Heat stress affects the sperm quality in exposed male rabbits.•Dietary intake of quercetin maintains the semen quality in rabbit.•Quercetin provision the lower the HS induced damages by reducing the oxidative stress.