ANTIFERTILITY EFFECTS OF COWPEAS ON MALE-RATS

Cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) were fed to rats from weaning to 250 days. At the end of feeding trial and mating trials, histological studies w ere done on testicular and epididymal tissues. Out of the 10 rats from the cowpea fed group, only six had fertile matings. The average litte r size for control rats was 13,7 +/- 1,0, while for the cowpea fed gro up it was 8,2 +/- 7,0. 1 Histological studies showed severe degenerati ve changes in the testis and the presence of multinucleated giant cell s (MGCs) in the epididymis of the cowpea fed group, that did not have fertile matings. It is proposed that cowpeas may contain some factors that could have antifertility effects, although the nature of such fac tors was not the object of this study.