Diet Influence on Sperm Quality, Fertility, and Reproductive Behavior in Karakul of Botoșani Rams
Constantin Pascal,
Ionică Nechifor,
Marian Alexandru Florea,
Claudia Pânzaru,
Daniel Simeanu,
Daniel Mierliță
Affiliations
Constantin Pascal
Department of Animal Resources and Technologies, Faculty of Food and Animal Sciences, Iași University of Life Sciences, 700490 Iasi, Romania
Ionică Nechifor
Research and Development Station for Sheep and Goat Breeding, Popăuți-Botoșani, 710004 Botoșani, Romania
Marian Alexandru Florea
Research and Development Station for Sheep and Goat Breeding, Popăuți-Botoșani, 710004 Botoșani, Romania
Claudia Pânzaru
Department of Animal Resources and Technologies, Faculty of Food and Animal Sciences, Iași University of Life Sciences, 700490 Iasi, Romania
Daniel Simeanu
Department of Control, Expertise and Services, Faculty of Food and Animal Sciences, “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” University of Life Sciences, 8 Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700489 Iasi, Romania
Daniel Mierliță
Faculty of Environmental Protection, University of Oradea, 26 General Magheru Boulevard, 410048 Oradea, Romania
This study aims to analyze the influence of an improved diet with vitamins and minerals (VM) on the live weight, body condition, quality of sperm, behavior, and fertility of rams. The biological material comprised two groups of rams (L1—control and L2—VM supplemented), each consisting of 15 individuals. After a complete one-year cycle, they received different dietary treatments at the beginning of the preparation for the reproduction period. Although in the onset of the mounting period (SM), no significant differences were observed for live weight (p > 0.05), providing supplemental feeding of a VM complex allowed a better capitalization of body reserves, and, consequently, the rams’ groups differed significantly by the end of mating season (FM), for live weight (+4.1%; p p p p p p p p < 0.001) on mating behavior, on the gestation installation (+11.2%) and on the number of obtained lambs (+14.0%), as well as on the key economic indicators (+13.8% incomes per ram).
