ABSTRACT
Zinc is an essential mineral and accepted as a trace element in the animal nutrition and for its role in biological enzymatic pathways. This study aimed to investigate the effect of oral administration of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) on some of the antioxidant parameters of semen plasma, quantitative and qualitative properties of Arabic ram sperm in the non-breeding season. Twelve adult Arabic rams (about 3-5 years old, 70 ±2.1 kg) were randomly assigned to receive one of the three levels of dietary ZnONPs (control; 0, group 1; 40 ppm and group 2; 80 ppm). Results showed that using different levels of ZnONPs increased the activity of superoxide dismutase enzyme (SOD) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of semen plasma significantly compared with the control group (P<0.05). Motility (74.83%), viability (76.90%), semen volume (1.76 ml) and sperm concentration (1418×106/ml) were significantly (P<0.05) higher in ZnONPs supplemented groups compared with the control group. The sperm morphological abnormalities reduced significantly in treated groups (10.46 and 9.07%) compared with the control group (12.66%; P <0.05). Also, the results suggested that 80 ppm level of ZnONPs increased the functionality of sperm membrane (44.38%) compared with other groups (37 and 35.66%, respectively for groups 1 and control) (P<0.05). Based on the results, using 80 ppm level of ZnONPs lead to an improvement in the activity of superoxide dismutase enzyme (48.62 ml) and total antioxidant capacity of semen plasma (111.88 µg/ml) compared with other groups (P<0.05). In conclusion using 80 ppm level of ZnONPs had a positive effect on the quantitative and qualitative properties of sperm and lead to a significant betterment in the activity of some antioxidant parameters of Arabic ram semen in the non-breeding season.