Abstract
Aim:This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of Rosmarinus officinalis (L.) essential oil on rooster sperm motility during 4°C short-term storage.Materials and Methods:R. officinalis essential oil was analyzed using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to identify the active components. 10 of 45-week-old Hubbard commercial broilers were subjected to biweekly semen collections during 3 weeks. At each collection, sperm was pooled and divided into four aliquots and then diluted with Tris extender supplemented with 870, 87, or 8.7 µg/ml of R. officinalis essential oil, identified as treatments R, R5, and R10, respectively. Tris-based extender without any supplementation was considered as a control group. Diluted sperm was then stored at 4°C in the refrigerator and analyzed at 0, 6, 24, and 48 h using a computer-assisted sperm analyzer. Different semen parameters were measured including total motility, progressive motility, gametes velocities (straight line velocity [VSL], curvilinear velocity [VCL], and average path velocity [VAP]), amplitude of the lateral head displacement [ALH], and beat-cross frequency [BCF].Results:The phytochemical analysis of R. officinalis essential oil revealed the presence of 25 active components including seven major molecules: Camphor (18.88%), camphene (5.17%), 1,8-cineole (7.85%), β-thujene (13.66%), α-thujene (4.87%), chrysanthenone (12.05%), and β-cubenene (7.97%). The results showed a beneficial effect of R. officinalis essential oil on sperm cells motility, particularly when using the lowest concentrations, 8.7 and 87 µg/ml. Progressive motility and gametes velocities (VCL, VSL, and VAP), materializing the quality of gametes motility, showed highly statistically significant values (p<0.01) in 8.7 and 87 µg/ml treatments, especially from 6 h of storage at 4°C. Conversely, the highest concentration (870 µg/ml) showed harmful effects with a total spermicidal activity after 24 h of storage.Conclusion:The current results revealed the positive impact of R. officinalis essential oil on rooster sperm at 4°C short-term storage probably through fighting against oxidative stress and cold shock damages.
Highlights
The recent years witnessed, in poultry, a growing interest in wide ranges of natural products and plant extracts, especially about their positive effects on reproduction and fertility outputs [1,2,3]
The results showed a beneficial effect of R. officinalis essential oil on sperm cells motility, when using the lowest concentrations, 8.7 and 87 μg/ml
The current results revealed the positive impact of R. officinalis essential oil on rooster sperm at 4°C short-term storage probably through fighting against oxidative stress and cold shock damages
Summary
The recent years witnessed, in poultry, a growing interest in wide ranges of natural products and plant extracts, especially about their positive effects on reproduction and fertility outputs [1,2,3]. Essential oils, when used in vivo as dietary supplementation, showed a remarkable potency in protecting and improving sperm parameters of several animal species [4,5,6,7]. Rosmarinus officinalis is known as a rich source of polyphenols and volatile oils including molecules such as carnosic, rosmarinic acids, and camphor [13,14,15,16]. These compounds display diverse biological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticarcinogenic properties. Dietary supplementation using other antioxidants, including Vitamin E, selenium, Vitamin C, and enzymatic antioxidant systems, improved significantly animal health and sperm quality [18,19,20,21]
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