The effects of dietary supplementation with high doses of vitamin E and C on the quality traits of chicken semen

This research has been carried out to verify the effect of high dietary lev els of vitamin E and C on qualitative traits of fresh chicken semen. Fifty male broiler breeders Ross 308 were divided into 5 groups of 10 birds each and given the same basal diet (BD) with standard integration of vitamin E ( 45 ppm), but with different vitamin supplementations. 145 and 245 ppm vitam in E (E100 and E200 groups), 500 and 1000 ppm vitamin C (C500 and C1000 gro ups). Semen was collected weekly from each subject starting from 27(th) to 39(th) week of age. On each semen sample, concentration. motility. kinetic properties and viability was determined by Computer Aided Sperm Analysis (C ASA). On the whole, it was observed a trend of vitamin E to affect positive ly semen quality traits by increasing both spermatozoa concentration in eja culate and cell viability with a significant effect on amplitude of lateral head displacement (ALH). Motility, too, which is strictly related to male fertility, was increased by vitamin E. The dietary supplementation of vitam in C, on the other hand, did not affect the above mentioned semen traits, o ur results would rather suggest a negative influence of vitamin C on sperma tozoa concentration.