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Animals (Basel)

Title:		Assessment of Biostimulation Methods Based on Chemical Communication in Female Doe Reproduction
Author(s):		Villamayor PR; Gullon J; Yanez U; Sanchez M; Sanchez-Quinteiro P; Martinez P; Quintela L;
Address:		"Department of Genetics, Veterinary Faculty, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC), Avda Carballo Calero s/n, 27002 Lugo, Spain. Department of Anatomy, Animal Production and Veterinary Clinic Science, Veterinary Faculty (USC), Avda Carballo Calero s/n, 27002 Lugo, Spain. COGAL SL, Cuniculture Company, 36530 Rodeiro, Spain. Unit of Reproduction, Department of Animal Pathology, Veterinary Faculty (USC), Avda Carballo Calero s/n, 27002 Lugo, Spain"
Journal Title:		Animals (Basel)
Year:		2022
Volume:		20220127
Issue:		3
Page Number:		-
DOI:		10.3390/ani12030308
ISSN/ISBN:		2076-2615 (Print) 2076-2615 (Electronic) 2076-2615 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Biostimulation is an animal management practice that helps improve reproductive parameters by modulating animal sensory systems. Chemical signals, mostly known as pheromones, have a great potential in this regard. This study was conducted to determine the influence of short-term female rabbit exposure to different conditions, mainly pheromone-mediated, on reproductive parameters of inseminated does. Groups of 60 females/each were exposed to (1) female urine, (2) male urine, (3) seminal plasma and (4) female-female (F-F) separated, just before artificial insemination, and compared to a 'golden method' female-female interaction. The following reproductive parameters were analyzed for each group: receptivity (vulvar color), fertility (kindling rate), prolificacy and number of born alive and dead kits/litter. Our results showed that the biostimulation methods employed in this experiment did not significantly improve any of the analyzed parameters. However, female doe exposure to urine, especially to male urine, showed no significant higher fertility values (95.4%) when compared to the rest of the experimental conditions (on average 92.4%). Female-female interaction before artificial insemination, which is a common practice in rabbit farms, showed similar results as not establishing social interaction (F-F separated), which suggests that F-F interaction could be replaced by F-F separated, therefore avoiding unnecessary animal management and time cost. On the other hand, fertility ranges were lower for animals with a pale vulvar color whereas no differences were noticed among the other three colors which measure receptivity (pink, red, purple), thus suggesting that these three colors could be grouped together. Future studies should aim at determining potential chemical cues/pheromones released through bodily secretions that influence reproduction in rabbits, therefore contributing to animal welfare and to a natural image of animal production"
Keywords:		biostimulation chemocommunication olfaction pheromones rabbit reproduction seminal plasma urine;
Notes:		"PubMed-not-MEDLINEVillamayor, Paula R Gullon, Julian Yanez, Uxia Sanchez, Maria Sanchez-Quinteiro, Pablo Martinez, Paulino Quintela, Luis eng ED431E 2018/09/Strategic Research Cluster BioReDes, funded by the Regional Government Xunta de Galicia under the project number ED431E 2018/09, by a 'Galician Youth Initiative' Grant (Xunta de Galicia (Galicia, Spain))/ Switzerland 2022/02/16 Animals (Basel). 2022 Jan 27; 12(3):308. doi: 10.3390/ani12030308"