O-4: Effects of Fatty Acid Sources in Diet onSperm Characteristics of Iranian Ram

Background: Researchers have indicated that mammalian spermatozoa are characterized by a high proportion of saturated, n-6 and n-3 series of fatty acids (FA). Major FA in rams’ sperm consists of C16, C18:1 and C22:6 (DHA). Little information exists on the effective use of saturated and unsaturated FA for ram whereas lipids have important role in sperm fertility. Our Background was to determine effects of feeding diets containing saturated or unsaturated FA sources influences ram’s sperm quality during 12 weeks in breeding season. Materials and Methods: Nine 2.5 years old fat-tailed Iranian rams (Kalkohi) were randomly assigned to 3 groups from Sep. - Dec. 2009. The treatments were diets containing (35 g/ d/ ram) RP-10® (C16:0 source), sunflower oil (SO) (C18:2 source) and fish oil (FO) (n-3 source) with a constant level of Vitamin E. The experiment had 16 weeks, with the first 4 weeks for diet adaptation and the last 12 weeks for collecting semen once a week by artificial vagina (AV). The volume of the collected semen was measured and sperm motility was assessed using a light microscope. Sperm concentration was estimated microscopically using a Neubauer® counting chamber and sperm viability was measured by the eosin-nigrosinstaining method. Data were analyzed using the GLM procedure of SPSS 11. Results: Positive responses to added FO was seen after 4th weeks of data collection and it was continue during sampling weeks. Various treatments have been changed semen volume of experimental rams. Interestingly, FO had the highest total sperm output versus RP10 and SO (4.3, 4.6. and 5.2 x109 for RP10, SO and FO respectively; p