EFFECT OF GRADED LEVELS OF Cucurbita pepo (Pumpkins) PULP POWDER ON RABBIT BUCKS SEMEN QUALITY, TESTICULAR GROSS MORPHOLOGY AND HISTOLOGY

Abstract

Twenty four (24) adult Composite breed Rabbit bucks were used in an experiment to evaluate the effect of Cucurbita pepo (pumpkins) pulp powder on rabbit bucks semen quality characteristics, gross testicular morphology and histology. The rabbits were allotted to four (4) dietary treatments T1, T2, T3, and T4, consisting of six (6) rabbits per group in three (3) replicate of two (2) rabbits per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Four (4) different diets were formulated using different inclusion levels of pumpkin pulp powder at 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% to treatment 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. At the end of the experiment semen was collected from three (3) rabbits in each treatment via artificial vagina and they were then slaughtered and dissected to obtain testicular tissues for testicular morphology. The results revealed statistical significant (P>0.05) differences in the findings for the semen quality characteristics of reaction time and semen concentration. Significant difference (P<0.05) was also observed for semen morphology for live and dead cell ratios. For testicular morphology, only left testis length was significantly (P<0.05) different. Testicular histology revealed T3 having larger and elongated seminiferous tubules that were very clustered compared to other treatments. For all findings T3 (10% pumpkin inclusion) performed better and it was thus concluded that addition of pumpkin to rabbit feed at 10% inclusion rate did have a beneficial effect on rabbit reproductive performance and as such it was recommended for use by rabbit farmers.