Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Combined with Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin to Enhance Reproductive Performance in Aged Rabbit Does

Figures & data

Table 1. Proximate analysis of pelleted basal diet.

Ingredients	Values	Calculated chemical analysis^#	Values
Berseem hay	30.0	Crude protein	17.5
Barley grain	21.0	Crude fibre	14.0
Yellow corn	5.0	Ether extract	2.7
Wheat bran	21.1	Nitrogen free extract	56.4
Soybean meal	17.5	Digestible energy, kcal/kg	2600
Molasses	3.0	Folic acid, mg/kg	6.50
CaCl2	1.5	Selenium, mg/kg	0.20
NaCl	0.4
Vitamin and mineral mix°	0.3
DL-methionine	0.2

°The vitamin and mineral premix/kg contained the following U/g for vitamins or minerals (rabbit premix produced by Holland Feed International Co., Heteren, The Netherlands): vitamin A, 4,000,000; vitamin D₃, 5,000,000; vitamin E, 16.7 g; vitamin K, 0.67 g; vitamin B₁, 0.67 g; vitamin B₂, 2 g; vitamin B₆, 0.67 g; vitamin B₁₂, 0.004 g; vitamin B₅, 16.7 g; pantothenic acid, 6.67 g; biotine, 0.07 g; folic acid, 1.67 g; choline chloride, 400 g; Zn, 23.3 g; Mn, 10 g; Fe, 25 g; Cu, 1.67 g; I, 0.25 g; Se, 0.033 g; Mg, 133.4 g.

^#Based on National Research Council (1977). Values are expressed as percentage on a dry matter basis, unless otherwise stated.

Table 2. Polyunsaturated fatty acid composition of sunflower and linseed oil.

	Fatty acids, %
	16:0 Palmitic	18:0 Stearic	18:1 Oleic	18:2 Linoleic	18:3 Linolenic
Sunflower oil	6.0	4.6	17.8	69.2	0.1
Linseed oil	6.58	4.43	18.51	17.25	53.21

Polyunsaturated fatty acid composition of sunflower and linseed oil are based on references by Jasso de Rodriguez et al. (2002) and Popa et al. (2012), respectively.

Table 3. Serum estradiol, progesterone and prostaglandin concentrations before artificial insemination of aged multiparous lactating does.

Parameter	eCG	eCG+PGF2α	eCG+
			Sun 3 mL/doe/day	Lin 3 mL/doe/day
Estradiol 17-β, pg/mL	22.25±0.84^c	31.18±0.27^b	48.03±1.07^a	33.87±0.29^b
Progesterone, ng/mL	4.38±0.04^a	2.46±0.12^b	1.83±0.03^c	2.55±0.03^b
Prostaglandin, ng/mL	480.96±2.15^c	600.96±2.96^a	598.69±2.85^a	576.51±2.48^a

^a-cMeans within the same row for each effect with different superscripts are significantly different (P≤0.01). eCG, equine chorionic gonadotropin; PGF_2α, prostaglandin F_2α (0.5 mg/doe); Sun, sunflower oil; Lin, linseed oil.

Table 4. Sexual receptivity, fertility rate, litter size and bunny body weight at birth of aged multiparous lactating does.

Parameter	Does/treatment, n	eCG	eCG+PGF2α	eCG
				Sun 3 mL/doe/day	Lin 3 mL/doe/day
Sexual receptivity, %	15	67.54±2.89^c	73.00±2.89^b	83.67±1.86^a	81.02±2.082^a
Fertility rate, %	15	65.23±1.20^b	67.33±1.20^b	76.67±0.88^a	69.10±2.08^b
Litter size at birth, n	15	6.98±0.19^c	8.18±0.19^b	10.03±0.20^a	8.51±0.26^b
Bunny body weight at birth, g	15	46.31±0.35^b	58.47±0.57^a	56.47±0.57^a	56.93±0.43^a

^a-cMeans within the same row for each effect with different superscripts are significantly different (P≤0.01). eCG, equine chorionic gonadotropin; PGF_2α, prostaglandin F_2α (0.5 mg/doe); Sun, sunflower oil; Lin, linseed oil.

National Research Council, 1977. Nutrient requirements of rabbits. 2nd rev. ed. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, USA.

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Jasso de RodriguezD.Phillips B.S.Rodriguez-García R.Angulo-Sánchez J.L., 2002. Grain yield and fatty acid composition of sunflower seed for cultivars developed under dry land conditions. In: Janick J.Whipkey A. (eds.) Trends in new crops and new uses. ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA, USA, pp 139-142.

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PopaV.-M.Gruia A.RabaD.-N.Dumbrava D.Moldovan C.Bordean D.Mateescu C., 2012. Fatty acids composition and oil characteristics of linseed (Linum Usitatissimum L.) from Romania. J. Agroal. Proc. Technol. 18:136-140.

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