Semen quality characteristics, reaction time, testis weight and seminiferous tubule diameter of buck rabbits fed neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) leaf meal based diets

Background: To ascertain the effects of tropical leaf meals on semen production and semen quality. Objective: This study was conducted with the main objective of investigating the effect of neem leaf meal on physiological responses of rabbit bucks fed graded levels of neem leaf (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) meal. Materials and Methods: The varying levels of neem leaf meal (NLM) in the different experimental diets were 0, 5, 10 and 15% respectively. Four groups of nine crossbred New Zealand type rabbit bucks each, aged 7-8 months were randomly assigned to four diets containing neem leaf meal (NLM) at 0% (control) (CD0), 5% (CD1), 10% (CD2) and 15% (CD3) respectively for 16 weeks. Results: The sperm concentration values obtained were 20.15 ×106 /ml, 18.04×106 /ml, 13.65×106 /ml, 6.46 ×106 /ml for the CD0, CD1, CD2 and CD3 groups respectively. The results obtained indicate that sperm motility were lowest (p0.05) between the control and those on 5-10 %NLM dietary groups however, the value for the 15%NLM group was significantly (p