ABSTRACT

The influence of selenium and or fatty acid supplemented diets on the semen characteristics, haematological indices and performance of boars was determined using 24 young growing Landrace boars. The experimental design was completely randomized design (CRD). Each treatment was replicated three times with two boars per replicate. The four treatments were diet Ti (control: without selenium and fatty acid), T2 (supplemented with Selenium), T3 (supplemented with Selenium+Fatty acid)1 and T4 (supplemented with Fatty acid). The source of fatty acid was soybean oil. The boars were assigned to the dietary treatments after a pre- experimental period of 2 weeks during which time the control diet was given. The boars were fed the experimental diets for 7 weeks before data collection commenced. Semen collection from the boars was by the gloved hand technique. Parameters measured were performance of boars, ejaculate characteristics (semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm cells per ejaculate, sperm motility and morphology), testicular size and consistency, and haematological indices of the young boars. Results showed that diets supplemented with Selenium or Selenium + Fatty acid significantly (P<0.05) increased semen volume (198.75 ml) more than control or fatty acid diets; and also increased sperm concentration (0.29 x109/ml) and total sperm per ejaculate more than the control diet only. Selenium + Fatty acid gave the highest sperm motility (75.25%) while the control diet gave the lowest compared to other diets. The control diet significantly (P<O.05) reduced testicular size of boars while Selenium + Fatty acid diet gave better testicular consistency than control diet only. Selenium andl or Fatty acid diets had no significant (P>0.05) effect on the haemoglobin and red blood cell (RBC) contents of the blood sample of boars. Control and selenium+fatty acid diets significantly (P<0.05) increased packed. cell volume (PCV) of boars than Selenium or fatty acid diets while WBC of boars fed fatty acid diet was lowest compared to others. Final live weight and daily weight gain of boars were significantly (P<O.05) enhanced with diets of selenium and selenium plus fatty acid than fatty acid alone or control diet. The conclusion was that supplementing the diets of boars with selenium and! or fatty acid improved the semen characteristics and that selenium + fatty acid diet gave better ejaculate and testicular characteristics that further highlight the importance of adding antioxidants to diets supplemented with fatty acid.