SEMEN QUALITIES, GONADAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DAILY SPERM PRODUCTION OF COCKS FED MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE

Abstract

Monosodium glutamate is a sodium salt of naturally occurring L-form of glutamic acid mostly used as flavour enhancer in various food products. The present study investigated the effects of monosodium glutamate (MSG) on the semen qualities, gonadal characteristics and daily sperm production of sexually matured cocks fed diets containing MSG at various inclusion levels (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, and 1.25g/kg diet). A total of 240 sexually matured Plymouth Rock cocks were used for the feeding experiment that lasted for 16weeks. The birds were randomly allotted to the six treatment diets and replicated five times with eight cocks per replicate in a completely randomized design. At the end of the feeding experiment, four cocks per replicate were humanely sacrificed and their reproductive tracts dissected. The collected data were subjected to analysis of variance followed by Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference (α 0.05 ) where significant differences were observed. The result of this study revealed that dietary inclusion of MSG at 1.25g/kg diet significantly (p<0.05) offset spermatogenesis as no semen was provided by the cocks. There was significant (p<0-05) decrease in all the semen qualities at inclusion levels above 0.50g MSG/kg diet. A significant (p>0.05) decrease was recorded on the weight, length and width of the testes at an inclusion level of up to 0.75gMSG/kg diet. However, a deteriorative effect was observed on the epididymides thus a deteriorative effect on the sperm storage capacities at inclusion of MSG above 0.5g/kg. This study suggested that an inclusion of monosodium glutamate above 0.5g/kg in the diet has deteriorative effect on semen qualities, gonadal characteristics and sperm production.