Nutritional impact of nano-selenium, garlic oil, and their combination on growth and reproductive performance of male Californian rabbits

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of nano-selenium (nano-Se), garlic oil, and their combination on nutrients digestibility, semen quality, serum testosterone and metabolites of male Californian rabbits. A total of 80 rabbits (120 days of age) were randomly distributed into four treatment groups of 20 rabbits each. Treatment groups were fed a control diet, a control diet supplemented with nano-Se (400 μg/kg), control diet supplemented with garlic oil (700 mg/kg), or control diet supplemented with combination of nano-Se (400 μg/kg) and garlic oil (700 mg/kg). The feeding trial lasted for 60 days. The results showed that improvements were observed in body weight (BW) gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in nano-Se treated group than non-supplemented group, and an interaction effect was observed on final BW of rabbits. The digestibility of all measured nutrients were significantly higher (P < 0.01) for animals fed nano-Se, garlic oil, and the combination group compared to their non-supplemented counterparts. Furthermore, semen characteristics were significantly improved (P < 0.01) in nano-Se and garlic oil supplemented groups compared to non-supplemented groups. Likewise, supplementation of nano-Se, garlic oil, and their combination significantly improved liver and kidney functions as indicated from serum metabolites, and increased serum testosterone hormone levels. Therefore, it can be concluded that nano-Se or garlic oil and their combination improved the nutrients digestibility, semen quality, kidney and liver functions, and testosterone levels in male rabbits.