Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
1Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, university of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
2
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran
3
Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Iran.
4
Departement of Basic Sciences, Faculty of veterinary Medicine, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran
5
Department of Health Food, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Semnan University
10.30466/vrf.2025.2058938.4737
Abstract
This study aimed to examine the effects of varying levels of L-carnitine and omega-3 and omega-9 fatty acids on performance, blood parameters, and testicular histomorphometry in fattening male Moghani lambs. Thirty-five five-month-old male Moghani lambs (27 ± 600 kg) were individually housed and randomly assigned to five dietary treatments. Diets included a control and four diets containing 3% calcium salts of omega-3 or omega-9 fatty acids with 100 or 200 mg/kg DMI of L-carnitine. Lambs were fed for 75 days to evaluate growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood metabolites, carcass traits, and testicular histomorphometry.The results indicated significant effects on daily weight gain during the second month, average weight gain in the second month, and feed conversion ratio in the third month (P<0.05). However, glucose, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood urea nitrogen, and HDL cholesterol levels on day 30, as well as triglyceride levels on day 60, were not significantly influenced by dietary treatments. Blood urea nitrogen and HDL cholesterol levels, along with total protein, were significantly affected on day 60, with dietary treatments having a marked influence (P<0.05). Liver enzyme activities, including aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), were significantly affected during the first 30 days of the study (P<0.05), while alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity remained unaffected over the 30 and 60-day periods. Testicular histomorphometry showed significant effects of dietary treatments on spermatogenesis index, seminiferous tubule diameter, and Leydig cell count (P<0.05).
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