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Effects of quantitative feed restriction on the semen quality of Nigerian local cocks

A.G. Ezekwe, I.J. Udozor, C.O. Osita

Abstract


Twenty (20) mature local cocks were randomly assigned to five feeding treatments with four cocks in each treatment. Group I cocks (full-fed control) received 90g of a 16% CP commercial growers ration per cock per day. Cocks in Groups II, III, IV and V received 63g, 45g, 27g and 18g of the same ration per cock per day, representing 70%, 50%, 30% and 20% of Group I intake, respectively. The feeding trials lasted for 8 weeks during which two ejaculates per week were collected from each cock using the massage technique. Ejaculated semen samples were subjected to both physical and biochemical evaluations. Results showed that cocks that were severely underfed (i.e. Groups IV and V) took significantly longer time (P

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Nigerian Journal of Animal Production.   ISSN: 0331-2064