Improving the reproductive, immunity and health status of rabbit does using honey bee venom

Alaa Elkomy; Ali El-Hanoun; Mohamed Abdella; Karim El-Sabrout

doi:10.1111/jpn.13552

Improving the reproductive, immunity and health status of rabbit does using honey bee venom

J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl). 2021 Sep;105(5):975-983. doi: 10.1111/jpn.13552. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Authors

Alaa Elkomy^{1

2}, Ali El-Hanoun³, Mohamed Abdella³, Karim El-Sabrout⁴

Affiliations

¹ Livestock Research Department, Arid Lands Cultivation Research Institute, City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), Borg El Arab, Egypt.
² Faculty of Desert and Environmental Agriculture, Matrouh University, Matrouh, Egypt.
³ Animal Production Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture (El-Shatby), Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.

PMID: 33856075
DOI: 10.1111/jpn.13552

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the long-term effect of using bee venom (BV) on the reproductive performance, immune, and health status of rabbit does and its effect on their litters. Sixty mature does, from Spanish V-line rabbit stock, were randomly assigned to four homogeneous groups with 15 does each. The 1^st , 2^nd and 3^rd groups were injected twice weekly under the neck skin with 0.1 ml solution contains 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mg BV/rabbit respectively. The 4^th group served as a control group. From the results, litter size at birth, litter weight and survival rate at weaning age as well as milk yield were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased in BV groups than in the control group. Serum estradiol 17-β (E2) was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher (15%) in the rabbit does treated with BV compared to the control group. The treated does with BV at any study doses showed a gradual and significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease (12%) in serum progesterone levels (P4) compared to the control. They also showed a significant (p≤0.05) increase in conception (17%) and fertility rates (10%) compared to the control does. Treatment of rabbit does with BV caused a gradual and significant (p ≤ 0.05) reduction in both aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (16%) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (37%) liver enzyme activities. Additionally, results have shown that BV resulted in a gradual and significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in total antioxidant capacity (TAC), antioxidative enzymes such as glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), serum IgG, IgM and IgA levels with significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in BV groups compared to the control group. Results suggest that BV can be used in rabbit farming as an effective and safe alternative to artificial chemical drugs (sexual-stimulants) to improve certain reproductive traits, immune response and health.

Keywords: antioxidants enzymes; immune response; lipid peroxidation biomarkers; melittin; rabbit reproduction.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial, Veterinary

MeSH terms

Animals
Antioxidants / metabolism
Bee Venoms* / metabolism
Female
Health Status
Lipid Peroxidation
Liver / metabolism
Oxidative Stress
Rabbits
Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances / metabolism

Substances

Antioxidants
Bee Venoms
Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances