ABSTRACT

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of probiotic (Saccharoinyces cerevisiac) on semen and haematological characteristics of 18 growing rabbit bucks, aged 4 months. The animals were randomly assigned to 3 treatment levels of 0 g (control), 0.1 g and 0.16 g of yeast in a completely randomized design. The experiment was replicated three times with 2 bucks per replicate. Data on semen microbial count, haematological, biochemical, seminal and histological parameters were collected. For haematological parameters, T3 recorded significantly (P<0.05) higher eosinophils (6.67 x I03/mm3) and lower lymphocytes (63.33 x mm3) than Ti and T2, respectively. Biochemical analysis showed that TI (3.32 g/dl) and T3 (3.23 g/dl) were significantly (P<0.05) higher in albumin than T2 (2.93 g/dl) whereas T2 (2.25 g/dl) and T3 (2.65 g/dl) were significantly (P<0.05) higher in globulin than TI (1.92 gldl). T3 recorded significantly (P<0.05) higher alkaline phosphatase (73.33 g/dl) compared to T2 (63.18 g/dl) and Ti (47.83 g/dl). Seminal parameters revealed that sperm motility was significantly (P<0.05) higher in T3(78.33%)but T2 (68.33 %) compared favourably with TI (63.33 %). T3 recorded significantly (r<0.05) higher live sperm (86.67 %) than TI 71.67 %) and 'T2 (77.50 Total sperm was significantly (P<0.05) higher in T3 (234.70 x 10 ImI) than in 11(1 19.33x10 /rn and T2 which were not significantly different. There was no significant diffeieiec in values obtained for microbial count both in colony and colony forming unit. Histological findings indicated that T3 (0.16 g U yeast inclusion) caused more hyparplasia of germinal epithelium which had a positive effect on semen production. It was concluded that 0.16 g inclusion level of Saccharornyces cerevisiae in the diet of rabbit bucks improved their blood and semen characteristics.