12-Title: Effect of zinc supplementation on histology of epididymis in Assam local goats (Capra hircus)

Authors: J Devi, J Goswami, BC Sarma and Kamal Sarma

Source: Ruminant Science (2013)-2(2):171-173.

How to cite this manuscript: Devi J, Goswami J, Sarma BC and Sarma Kamal (2013). Effect of zinc supplementation on histology of epididymis in Assam local goats (Capra hircus). Ruminant Science 2(2):171-173.

Abstract

A total of thirty six healthy Assam local male goats of three months of age weighing between 3 to 4 kg were used for the present study. The kids were equally divided into three groups according to the feeding regime as group I (Control group) in which animals received no zinc supplementation, while animals of groups II and III received inorganic (Zinc sulphate at the level of 120 mg/kid/day) and organic form (Zinc propionate at the level of 40 mg/kid/day) of zinc supplements, respectively. Following supplementation, tissue pieces from three parts of the epididymis viz. caput, corpus and cauda, were fixed separately in 10 per cent neutral buffered formalin. All the tissues were processed for routine paraffin embedding tissue processing technique and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. Histological study of epididymis revealed no sperm pack in the epididymis till 4 months of age in all the groups. At 5 months of age, sperm pack was seen in caput, corpus and cauda of zinc-supplemented kids. At 6 and 7 months, the kids of all the groups had sperm pack in all the parts of the epididymis. Sperm pack was very compact in the cauda of organic group at 6 and 7 months of age. It was found that that early attainment of puberty in male kids could be achieved by supplementation of zinc. Organic zinc source proved better choice than inorganic one as feed supplement considering bioavailability and effectiveness.

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