Effect of dietary energy level on body weight, testicular development and semen quality of local barred chicken of the western highlands of Cameroon

Cyrille D’Alex Tadondjou, Ferdinand Ngoula, Ferdinand Ngoula, Henry Fuelefack Defang, Herve Kuietche Mube, Alexis Teguia

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Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon.

DOI: 10.4236/arsci.2013.13006                

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the effects of dietary energy levels on some growth and reproductive parameters of local barred chickens in Cameroon. For this purpose, One hundred and forty four day-old barred male chicks, weighing 28.33 g in average were randomly divided into 12 groups of 12 chicks each. Three feeding programs (FP) comprising each a starter diet from day old to 12 weeks (S0: 2800 Kcal/Kg; S1: 2900 Kcal/Kg; S2: 3000 Kcal/Kg) and grower diet from 13 to 20 weeks (G0: 2900 Kcal/Kg; G1: 3000 Kcal/ Kg; G2: 3100 Kcal/Kg) were used and designated FP1, FP2 and FP3 respectively. Each of the FP was randomly allotted of 4 groups of 12 birds in a completely randomized design. Throughout experiment (1 day old to 20 weeks), body weight was recovered every 2 weeks. At 20 weeks of age, roosters were sacrificed; semen characteristic was analyzed and testes were characterized. Between 2 to 10 weeks old, body weight of cocks fed with FP3 was significantly higher (P < 0.05) as compared to others FP. Inversely, from 12 to 20 weeks, body weight of cocks receiving FP1 was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of cocks receiving feeding programs 2 and 3. At 20 weeks, 100% of cocks fed on FP3 produced semen versus 66.66% and 16.66% respectively for those on FP1 and FP2. Semen volume and mass motility of cocks fed on FP3 or FP1 were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than FP2. It was concluded that FP1 had more suitable dietary energy levels for growth and reproduction of local barred cocks.

Keywords

Energy; Body Weight; Testes; Semen; Puberty; Local Barred Chicken

Figure 1. Growth curve of local barred cocks fed graded energy levels. Each point represents means ± ESM; n = 12.

fed with feeding programs 1 (FP1) and 2 (FP2). Inversely, from 12 to 20 weeks, body weight of cocks receiving FP1 was significantly higher than that of cocks receiving FP2 and FP3. The lowest body weight was recorded with FP2 from the beginning to the end of the experiment period.

3.2. Effect of Dietary Energy Level on Testicular Development

The summary of the analysis of variance as presented in Table 2 indicated that dietary energy level had significant effect on testicular weight (P < 0.05). The left and right testes weights recorded on FP3 and 1 were significantly higher (P < 0.05) compared to testes weight of cocks fed on FP2. However, no significant difference was found between treatments neither for testicular shape index nor left-right testicular weight ratio. A highly positive and significant correlation was found between body weight at 4 weeks and testicular weight in cocks fed with FP3 (r = 0.896, P < 0.05). In addition, in cocks fed on FP1, a highly positive correlation was recorded between body weight at 8 weeks and testicular weight (r = 0.802).

3.3. Effect of Dietary Energy Level on Puberty and Semen Characteristics

Table 3 summarizes the effects of dietary energy level on percentage of cocks producing semen at 20 weeks, and semen characteristics. All the cocks (100%) receiving FP3 versus 66.66% and 16.66% respectively of cocks receiving FP2 and FP1 produced semen at 20 weeks. The semen volume and spermatozoa mass motility of cocks fed on FP3 and FP1 were significantly higher (P < 0.05) compared to cocks fed on FP2. The sperm density was not significantly affected by the dietary energy level (P > 0.05). However, cocks fed on FP1 had the relative highest value of sperm density. Semen color remained unchanged irrespective of treatment (P > 0.05).

Table 2. Effect of dietary energy level on testicular development.

Table 3. Effect of dietary energy level on puberty and semen characteristics.

4. DISCUSSION

Body weight of cocks receiving the lowest energy level (FP1) at 20 weeks was significantly higher than that of cocks receiving respectively the intermediate (FP2) and highest (FP3) energy level. It is well established that hypo energetic diet leads to excessive weight gain [18,30, 31]. Birds fed with low metabolizable energy diet consume more nutrients than needed, particularly protein, vitamins and minerals. They then increase their caloric intake by using part of the diet protein as source of energy without affecting the protein quantity necessary for growth [10,11,30]. Hyper energetic diet doesn’t cover quantitatively other nutritive needs such as protein, vitamins and minerals. The deficiency may negatively impact growth [18,30,31]. Body weight evolution between 2 and 10 weeks showed significantly higher values for cocks receiving feeding programs 3. This result is in agreement with the findings of Teteh et al. [32] who pointed out that the faster growth rate of chicks fed with high metabolizable energy diet may be due to the use of energy for efficient retention of protein; since protein is the building blocks needed for growth.

This study revealed that dietary energy level affected testicular development. In fact, testicular development was significantly higher with FP3 and FP1 compared with feeding programs 2. This may be attributed to growth dynamic within the first 10 weeks. The highest (FP3) and the lowest (FP1) dietary energy level lead to an increase of testes weight. In fact, it is well established that bird fed hypo-energetic diet uses a part of the diet protein as source of energy to compensate and then increase caloric intake [18,32], suggesting that high energy intake leads to precocious testicular development and testicular hypertrophy. The testicular development of roosters with high body weight at 8 weeks was significantly higher than that of other cocks. This result supported the findings of Brière et al. [17] and El-Dlebshany [23] who reported that high growth performance leads to early sexual maturation. High body weight gain during prepubertal period seems to involve an acceleration of the increase in testes size. This could be associated with the development of seminiferous tubules in testes. In fact, during prepubertal period, testicular development is highly correlated to the number and size of Sertoli cells while during pubertal period; it is rather correlated to the number of germinal cells. This is in agreement with Kirby et al. [19] who reported an increase of testis weight with no apparent increase in spermatozoa production. This work also revealed that 66.66% of cocks receiving the lowest (FP1) versus 100% of cocks receiving the highest (FP3) energy level started producing semen at 20 weeks. Testes produce both sperm and part of seminal plasma suggesting that testis development is not only associated with Sertoli cell proliferation but also with establishment of spermatogenesis activity [33]. This result also suggests that high energy intake accelerates prepubertal development, advance spermatogenesis and hence early puberty.

Semen characteristics of roosters fed with the highest dietary energy (FP3) were relatively lower when compared to those of cocks fed with the lowest dietary energy (FP1). In birds, Brière et al. [17] reported that intratesticular hyperthermia resulting from high dietary energy intake may lead to reduction of sperm production. Intratesticular hyperthermia acts by altering the functional state of spermatogonia stock [17]. High dietary energy can reduce sperm production by decreasing the ability of spermatogonia to develop into spermatocyte I and II. The sperm density of cocks receiving the lowest and the highest dietary energy level were higher than those reported by Peters et al. [34] in Nigerian indigenous, white leghorn and giriraja cocks. The differences in sperm density could be associated with dietary energy level since FP2 which produced similar results as reported by Peters et al. [34] is the standard diet used to feed white leghorn. The semen volumes recorded in this work are in agreement with Sauveur [35] who indicated that semen volume of light stump cock ranges between 0.1 to 0.8 ml.

5. CONCLUSION

The presented results suggested that testicular development and sexual maturity are affected by dietary energy level. This work generated first data of semen characteristic from Cameroonian local chicken. Feeding programs 1 seems to be more interesting for both growth and reproductive performances but further work is required for accurate conclusion.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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