Table 3.

Effect of lecithin and vitamin E on sperm concentration, semen volume, and plasma sex hormone profile.

		LH (ng/L)	FSH (IU/L)	Testosterone (nmol/L)	Semen volume (mL)	Sperm concentration (1 × 109/mL)
Treatments1
Lecithin, %	Vitamin E, ppm
0	0	4.04	5.79	2.40b	0.51ab	2.92abc
0	300	3.93	5.71	2.34b	0.61ab	2.83bc
1	0	4.13	6.09	2.52b	0.70a	2.79c
1	300	3.98	5.71	3.01a	0.57ab	3.25ab
2	0	3.87	5.60	2.70ab	0.51ab	2.88abc
2	300	3.94	5.77	2.95a	0.41b	3.29a
SEM Pooled		0.157	0.253	0.145	0.117	0.175
Main effects
Lecithin, %
0		3.99	5.75	2.37b	0.56b	2.88
1		4.06	5.90	2.77a	0.64a	3.02
2		3.91	5.69	2.83a	0.46c	3.09
Vitamin E, ppm
0		4.01	5.83	2.54b	0.57	2.87b
300		3.95	5.73	2.77a	0.53	3.12a
P-value
Lecithin		0.296	0.396	<0.0001	0.018	0.096
Time		<0.0001	0.231	0.004	0.135	<0.0001
Vitamin E		0.427	0.460	0.003	0.379	0.003
Lecithin × Time		0.649	0.963	0.006	0.547	0.008
Lecithin × Vitamin E		0.440	0.240	0.013	0.013	0.013
Vitamin E × Time		0.265	0.647	0.0001	0.957	0.0001
Lecithin × Vitamin E × Time		0.491	0.018	0.528	0.069	0.821

Data are presented as means ± SEM (n=6 roosters/each treatment).

Superscripts with different means within column differ significantly at P ≤ 0.05.

¹Roosters received their diets at 45 wk of age for 60 d based on experimental design as follows: 1) basal diet, 2) basal diet supplemented with 300 mg/kg vitamin E, 3) basal diet supplemented with 1% lecithin, 4) basal diet supplemented with 1% lecithin along with 300 mg/kg vitamin E, 5) basal diet supplemented with 2% lecithin, and 6) basal diet supplemented with 2% lecithin along with 300 mg/kg vitamin E.