Effects of Dietary Fish Oil as Source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids on The Quality of Cryopreserved Semen in Rooster

Background: Rooster semen is sensitive to cryopreservation which limits preservation of semen in frozen states. Polyun-saturated fatty acids (PUFAs) of the omega-3 are important for semen membrane integrity, sperm motility and viability. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary fish oil on the quality indicators of rooster semen after cryopreser-vation.Materials and Methods: Eighteen broiler breeder roosters were randomly assigned into three experimental treatments as following:1) control group received a basal diet, 2) fish oil group (FO) received a basal diet supplemented with 0.5% fish oil and 3) fish oil group received a basal diet supplemented with 2% fish oil. Semen sample were collected at days of 0,15,30,45 and 60 of post feeding. The obtained semen cryopreserved ac-cording to standard protocol and thawed for evaluation. Motion characteristics, viability and morphology of sperm were meas ured after thawing.Results: Dietary FO had significant positive effects on motility and viability of sperm compared to the control group (P<0.05). Adding 0.05 % FO significantly increased the percentage of to-tal motility and viability (P<0.05) Morphology of sperm was not significantly affected by the FO (P≥0.05).Conclusion: It can be concluded that dietary n-3 fatty acids before cryopreservation increases the cryotolerance of rooster semen which could be a suitable strategy for better preservation of semen for long time.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cryopreservation ، Unsaturated Fatty Acid ، Doco-sahexenoic Acid ، Apoptosis