The quality of incubated or chilled rabbit semen is quickly lowered with time due to high-rate production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Black seed (BS) and thyme (THY) are rich sources of natural antioxidants, which may be able to control ROS production and improve semen quality for use in artificial insemination. In this study, V-line rabbit bucks, seven months old, were fed diets supplemented with 50 or 100 g of BS or THY for 60 days. Semen was collected twice weekly. The quality of fresh sperm was measured, and diluted sperm was incubated for up to 12 h. Chilled, diluted sperm, stored at 4℃ for up to 3 days, was evaluated. The results indicated that BS and THY increased rabbit libido, decreased abnormal sperm and non-viable sperm percentages and significantly lowered total bacteria counts of diluted sperm. In conclusion, bucks fed a diet supplemented with BS or THY had enhanced semen quality and storage life, because of the antioxidant properties of BS and THY. The best incubation results were obtained with the THY100 treatment, whereas the best-chilled results were obtained with the BS100 group.

中文翻译：

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用黑或百里香籽作为膳食补充剂提高兔精液的质量和储存能力

由于活性氧 (ROS) 的高速产生，孵化或冷藏的兔精液的质量会随着时间的推移而迅速降低。黑种子 (BS) 和百里香 (THY) 是天然抗氧化剂的丰富来源，它们可能能够控制 ROS 的产生并提高用于人工授精的精液质量。在这项研究中，给 7 个月大的 V 系兔公鹿喂食添加 50 或 100 克 BS 或 THY 的饮食 60 天。每周两次收集精液。测量新鲜精子的质量，将稀释的精子孵育长达 12 小时。对冷藏、稀释的精子，在 4℃ 下储存长达 3 天进行评估。结果表明，BS 和 THY 增加了兔子的性欲，减少了异常精子和无活力精子的百分比，并显着降低了稀释精子的总细菌数。综上所述，由于 BS 和 THY 的抗氧化特性，喂食添加 BS 或 THY 的饮食的雄鹿提高了精液质量和储存寿命。用 THY100 处理获得了最好的孵化结果，而用 BS100 组获得了最好的冷藏结果。