The use of magnetically treated water for improving semen traits of roosters

Abstract

This experiment was conducted at the poultry house / Department of Animal Resources / College of Agriculture, University of Al - Sulaymania during the period from 1/8/2007 to 1/6/2008 to investigate the effect of different intensities of magnetically treated water on semen traits of roosters. A total of 80 Hy – Line Brown cocks, 22 weeks old were used in this experiment. Cocks were randomly distributed into 4 treatment groups of 4 replicates each. Each treatment group constitutes 20 cocks with 5 cocks for each replicate. Experimental treatments included in this experiment were: Treatment 1: roosters drank magnetically treated water which passed through magnetic device with strength of 500 gauss, treatment 2: roosters drank magnetically treated water which passed through magnetic device with strength of 1000 gauss, treatment 3: roosters drank magnetically treated water which passed through magnetic device with strength of 2000 gauss, and treatment 4: roosters drank normal water without magnetism which considered as control group. Semen traits included in this experiment were: ejaculate volume, mass activity and individual motility of spermatozoa, spermatozoa concentration, spermatocrit, and percentages of dead spermatozoa, abnormal spermatozoa and acrosomal abnormalities.Results revealed that treated the cocks with magnetically treated water resulted in highly significant (p < 0.01) increase as regards the total means of ejaculate volume, mass activity and individual motility of spermatozoa, spermatozoa concentration, and spermatocrit and highly significant (p < 0.01) decrease with relation to the total means of percentages of dead spermatozoa, abnormal spermatozoa and acrosomal abnormalities. However, T3 (2000 Gauss) recorded the best results with respect to all semen traits included in this experiment. It could be concluded from the results of this experiment that treated the cocks with magnetically treated water resulted in significant improvement in reproductive performance of cocks as indicated by great improvement concerning all semen characteristics involved in this experiment. Therefore, magnetized water technique can be used as one of important tools for enhancing the reproductive efficiency of roosters