Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:30:05.582Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Continuous light after 2 months of long days stimulates ram testis volume and increases fertility in spring

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2016

D. Chesneau ,
D. Guillaume ,
P. Chemineau  and
B. Malpaux
D. Chesneau*
Affiliation:
PRC, INRA, CNRS, Université François Rabelais, IFCE, Agreenium, 37380 Nouzilly, France
D. Guillaume
Affiliation:
PRC, INRA, CNRS, Université François Rabelais, IFCE, Agreenium, 37380 Nouzilly, France
P. Chemineau
Affiliation:
PRC, INRA, CNRS, Université François Rabelais, IFCE, Agreenium, 37380 Nouzilly, France
B. Malpaux
Affiliation:
PRC, INRA, CNRS, Université François Rabelais, IFCE, Agreenium, 37380 Nouzilly, France
*
†E-mail: Didier.Chesneau@inra.fr
Get access

Abstract

Seasonal reproduction is one of the major biotechnical and economic constraints of sheep production in temperate latitudes. Treatments using extra light followed by melatonin implants have been used satisfactorily in open barns, farms and artificial insemination centres to produce out-of-season sexual activity in rams. The aim of the present study is to explore the possibility of replacing melatonin implants with continuous light (LL), which was recently shown to increase LH secretion similar to melatonin and/or pinealectomy. Four experiments during 4 consecutive years were conducted in ‘Ile-de-France’ rams. In each study, one group was systematically exposed to permanent light after a first photoperiodic treatment of 60 long days (LD-LL) during the winter and compared with various other control groups subjected either to a natural photoperiod or the classical LD-melatonin treatment. As expected, blood nocturnal melatonin secretion was suppressed by LL. In all four experiments, LL treatment produced a highly significant and robust increase in ram testicular volume in the spring compared with the testicular volume of control rams or of that of treated rams at the end of the LD. For the two experiments in which fertility was tested, fertility after hand-mating was significantly higher in LD-LL rams than in control rams (76% v. 64%). Therefore, permanent light after an LD treatment may be an interesting alternative to LD-melatonin treatment to induce out-of-season sexual activity in rams.

Keywords

ramtestisphotoperiodmelatoninfertility
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 11 , Issue 7 , July 2017 , pp. 1189 - 1195
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arranz, JM, Lagriffoul, G, Guérin, Y and Chemineau, P 1995. Maîtrise de la production spermatique des béliers par des traitements associant la lumière et l’utilisation de mélatonine. Rencontres Recherches Ruminants, 13–14 December 1995, Paris, France, pp. 425–428.Google Scholar
Chemineau, P, Malpaux, B, Brillard, JP and Fostier, A 2007. Seasonality of reproduction and production in farm fishes, birds and mammals. Animal 1, 419–432.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chemineau, P, Malpaux, B, Delgadillo, JA, Guerin, Y, Ravault, JP, Thimonier, J and Pelletier, J 1992. Control of sheep and goat reproduction – use of light and melatonin. Animal Reproduction Science 30, 157–184.Google Scholar
Chemineau, P, Malpaux, B, Pelletier, J, Leboeuf, B, Delgadillo, JA, Deletang, F, Pobel, T and Brice, G 1996. Emploi des implants de mélatonine et des traitements photopériodiques pour maîtriser la reproduction saisonnière chez les ovins et les caprins. Productions Animales 9, 45–60.Google Scholar
Chemineau, P, Maurice, F and Daveau, A 1993. Re-initiation of ovulatory activity by melatonin given as a constant-release implant in long-day treated Ile-de-France ewes, depends on endogenous secretion of melatonin. In Melatonin and the pineal gland – from basic science to clinical application (ed. Y Touitou, J Arendt and P Pévet), pp. 247–250. Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Chemineau, P, Normant, E, Ravault, JP and Thimonier, J 1986. Induction and persistence of pituitary and ovarian activity in the out-of-season lactating dairy goat after a treatment combining a skeleton photoperiod, melatonin and the male effect. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 78, 497–504.Google Scholar
Colas, G 1980. Variations saisonnières de la qualité du sperme chez le bélier Ile-de-France. I. Étude de la morphologie cellulaire et de la motilité massale. Reproduction Nutrition Development 20, 1789–1799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colas, G 1981. Variations saisonnières de la qualité du sperme chez le bélier Ile-de-France. II. Fécondance : relation avec les critères qualitatifs observés in vitro . Reproduction Nutrition Development 21, 399–407.Google Scholar
Dacheux, JL, Pisselet, C, Blanc, M, Hochereau-de Revers, MT and Courot, M 1981. Seasonal-variations in rete testis fluid secretion and sperm production in different breeds of ram. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 61, 363–371.Google Scholar
Delgadillo, JA 2011. Environmental and social cues can be used in combination to develop sustainable breeding techniques for goat reproduction in the subtropics. Animal 5, 74–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delgadillo, JA, Carrillo, E, Moran, J, Duarte, G, Chemineau, P and Malpaux, B 2001. Induction of sexual activity of male creole goats in subtropical northern Mexico using long days and melatonin. Journal of Animal Science 79, 2245–2252.Google Scholar
Driancourt, MA and Delgadillo, JA 2014. Outils et méthodes de maitrise de la reproduction: indications, performances et limites. In La Reproduction Animale et Humaine (ed. M Saint-Dizier and S Chastant-Maillard), pp. 533–552. QUAE Publisher, Versailles, France.Google Scholar
Fraser, S, Cowen, P, Franklin, M, Franey, C and Arendt, J 1983. Direct radioimmunoassay for melatonin in plasma. Clinical Chemistry 20, 396–397.Google Scholar
Garnier, D, Cotta, Y and Terqui, M 1978. Androgen radioimmunoassay in the ram: results of direct plasma testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone measurement and physiological evaluation. Annales de Biologie Animale Biochimie Biophysique 18, 265–281.Google Scholar
Guillaume, D, Zarazaga, L, Malpaux, M and Chemineau, P 2006. Variability of plasma melatonin level in pony mares (Equus caballus), comparison with the hybrid: mules and with jennies (Equus asinus). Reproduction Nutrition Development 46, 633–639.Google Scholar
Hochereau-De Reviers, MT, Perreau, C, Pisselet, C, Fontaine, I and Monet-Kuntz, C 1990. Comparisons of endocrinological and testis parameters in 18-month-old Ile de France and Romanov rams. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 7, 63–73.Google Scholar
Little, RC, Henry, PR and Ammerman, CB 1998. Statistical analysis of repeated measures data using SAS procedures. Journal of Animal Science 76, 1216–1231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopez-Sebastian, A, Coloma, MA, Toedano, A and Santiago-Moreno, J 2014. Hormone-free protocols for the control of reproduction and artificial insemination in goats. Reproduction in Domestic Animals 49 (suppl. 4), 22–29.Google Scholar
Malpaux, B, Daveau, A, Maurice-Mandon, F, Duarte, G and Chemineau, P 1998. Evidence that melatonin acts in the premammillary hypothalamic area to control reproduction in the ewe: presence of binding sites and stimulation of luteinizing hormone secretion by in situ microimplant delivery. Endocrinology 139, 1508–1516.Google Scholar
Martin, P, Raoul, J and Bodin, L 2014. Effects of the FecL major gene in the Lacaune meat sheep population. Genetics Selection Evolution 46, Art. 48.Google Scholar
Oldham, CM, Adams, NR, Gherardi, PB, Lindsay, DR and McKintosh, JB 1978. The influence of level of feed intake on sperm-producing capacity of testicular tissue in the ram. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 29, 173–179.Google Scholar
Ortavant, R, Pelletier, J, Ravault, JP, Thimonier, J and Volland-Nail, P 1985. Photoperiod-main proximal and distal factor of the circannual cycle of reproduction in farm mammals. Oxford Reviews of Reproductive Biology 7, 305–345.Google Scholar
Ravault, JP, Arendt, J and Tobler, I 1989. Entrainement of melatonin rhythms in rams by symmetrical light-dark cycles of different period length. Chronobiology International 6, 329–339.Google Scholar
Sidani, C, Astruc, JM, Bouchel, D, Bouffartigue, B, Du, C le, Raoul, J and Barillet, F 2013. Genetic resistance to scrapie in sheep continues to be improved. Point Vétérinaire 44 (part 2), 66–71.Google Scholar
Terqui, M and Thimonier, J 1974. New rapid radioimmunological method for estimation of plasma progesterone – application to early gestation diagnosis in sheep and goat. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires Des Séances de l’Académie Des Sciences Série D 279, 1109–1112.Google Scholar
Thibault, C, Courot, M, Martinet, L, Mauléon, P, du Mesnil du Buisson, F, Ortavant, R, Pelletier, J and Signoret, JP 1966. Regulation of breeding season and oestrous cycles by light and external stimuli in some mammals. Journal of Animal Science 26 (suppl.), 119–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tillet, Y, Ravault, P, Selve, C, Evin, G, Castro, B and Dubois, MP 1986. Condition d’utilisation d’anticorps spécifiques pour la visualisation immunohistochimique de la sérotonine et de la mélatonine dans la glande pinéale du mouton. Compte Rendu de l’Académie des Sciences 303, 77–82.Google Scholar
Vakkuri, O, Leppaluoto, J and Vuolteenaho, O 1984. Development and validation of a melatonin radioimmunoassay using radioiodinated melatonin as tracer. Acta Endocrinologica (Copenhagen) 106, 152–157.Google ScholarPubMed
Viguie, C, Caraty, A, Locatelli, A and Malpaux, B 1995. Regulation of luteinizing-hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) secretion by melatonin in the ewe .1. Simultaneous delayed increase in LHRH and luteinizing-hormone pulsatile secretion. Biology of Reproduction 52, 1114–1120.Google Scholar
Wayne, NL, Malpaux, B and Karsch, FJ 1990. Photoperiodic requirements for timing onset and duration of the breeding season of ewe: synchronization of an endogenous rhythm of reproduction. Journal of Comparative Physiology [A] 166, 835–842.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webley, GE, Mehl, H and Willey, KP 1985. Validation of a sensitive direct assay for melatonin for investigation of circadian rhythms in different species. Journal of Endocrinology 106, 387–394.Google Scholar
Zarazaga, L, Todini, L, Chemineau, P, Marnet, PG, Locatelli, A and Malpaux, B 2010b. Nocturnal melatonin concentrations vary dramatically between the two jugular veins in most individual sheep maintained under mimicked or natural photoperiod. Research in Veterinary Science 88, 233–238.Google Scholar
Zarazaga, LA, Gatica, MC, Celi, I, Guzman, JL and Malpaux, B 2010a. Effect of artificial long days and/or melatonin treatment on the sexual activity of Mediterranean bucks. Small Ruminant Research 93, 110–118.Google Scholar