Reproductive performance of filander rabbits treated with recombinant bovine somatotropin

Abstract EN

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) on reproductive performance of rabbits.

The experimental flock consists of 120 females and 45 males of Filander rabbits.

They were injected by rbST at a dose of 0, 0.75 and 1.5 mg/kg biweekly basis throughout the experiment.

Experimental rabbits were fed ad libitum pelleted reproductive commercial ration to serve their nutritional requirements for mature period of rabbits.

In accordance to semen quality, it could be speculated that the semen volume of injected rabbits was significantly higher than that of control-group.

Also, both advance motility and semen concentration were significantly improved.

Relative weight of both testes and pituitary gland was significantly increased by rbST injection at both dosages.

With respect to testosterone hormone concentration and mating activity, the present results showed that the rabbits treated with rbST were significantly higher both testosterone concentration and mating activity compared with control-group.

The litter size at birth was significantly increased in rabbits treated with rbST when compared with control-group.

The injected rabbits with rbST produced significantly higher milk yield compared to control-group.

Concerning pre-weaning mortality rate, it could be noticed that the pre-weaning mortality rate was significantly decreased in injected rabbits.

In conclusion, we conducted that the reproductive performance and sexual behavior of rabbits were significantly improved by injection of rbST at both dosages.

Key words; Rabbits, reproductive parameters, rbST