EFFECT OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF MEAL BASED DIET ON SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS AND TESTICULAR MORPHOMETRY OF KANO BROWN BUCKS

Abstract

Effect of Moringa oleifera leaf meal based diet on semen characteristics and testicular morphometry of Kano Brown bucks. Twenty (20) Kano Brown bucks aged 10-12 months old with average weight of 12.5 ± 1.07kg were used for the study. The bucks were allotted to five dietary treatments in a completely randomized design with four animals per treatment. Animals on treatment one (T1) were fed the control diet. Animals on treatments two, three, four and five were offered 5, 10, 15 and 20% Moringa oleifera leaf meal designated as T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. Result indicated that feeding of Moringa oleifera leaf meal based diet had significant (P<0.05) negative effects on the semen quantitative parameters measured. M. oleifera fed bucks at 0% yielded the best result: ejaculate motility (65.84%), Concentration (146.19 x 106/ml), live sperm (63.33%) and dead sperm cells (36.67%). Morphometry results of the testes (weight and length of testes, epididymis, epididymal head and body) were affected by increased level of Moringa oleifera except for the epididymal tail length where the control group had higher value (60.98 and 38.12) than the other groups in both left and right testes. From this study, it was concluded that feeding Moringa oleifera leaf meal based diet up to 20% inclusion level may have an alarming effect on semen characteristic and testicular morphometry of Kano Brown bucks; hence, it is recommended that Bucks could be fed up to 5% Moringa oleifera leaf meal inclusion level without deleterious effects.