THE NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF PROTEIN FOR SINAI COCKS

The present study was conducted in order to determine the protein requirements of Sinai cocks males as a local strain by feeding different crude protein (CP) levels (Control: 17%, Medium: 15% or Low: 13%) on their reproductive performance and semen quality. Forty five male of local strain Sinai Bedouin (32 weeks old) were divided into three equal groups, 15 male/ group with 3 replicates each, having nearly similar body weights (1.40 kg) and located housed in individual cages. The experiment extended for 6 weeks. Results revealed that feed intake and protein intake were significantly reduced as the dietary crude protein level was decreased (13% CP, being 86 and 11.11g/ cock/day compared to 96, 93 g feed/cock/day and 16.34, 13.24g CP/cock/ day in cocks fed the control (17%) and the medium (15%) crude protein diets, respectively). Neither fertility nor hatchability was affected, while significant increase in semen volume and motility were noticed with reducing dietary crude protein levels. The greater amounts of semen volume and the lowest semen concentration (226×107/ ml), were recorded for males fed the lowest dietary crude protein diet (13%) in comparison with the other feeding groups. Blood glucose, total protein and triglycerides were decreased by reducing dietary crude protein levels. Meanwhile, blood serum createnine, total cholesterol and ALT and AST enzymes were increased by reducing dietary crude protein levels.