Effect of Different Levels of Plants (Thymus vulgaris and Ziziphus spina_christi) on Semen Diluents for Awassi Ram.

Abstract

Male infertility presents a particularly vexing clinical problem. Clinically infertility can be defined as the inability of a couple trying to conceive to do so within one year. Medicinal plants are increasingly recognized worldwide as an alternative source of efficacious and inexpensive medications to synthetic chemo-therapeutic compound. Various medicinal plant extracts have been tested for their activity both in male and female animal models. This work was performed to evaluate the effects of hot water extracts of two plants (Thymus vulgaris and Ziziphus spina_christi on Awassi ram sperm activity. Three different concentrations of the two plants were used (0.001, 0.05, and 0.5 mg), and the activity of the sperm were evaluated at the time: 0, 24, 48, 72 hours of experiment. Results showed a significant decrease in sperm activity associated with the treatment by the concentrations 0.005 and 0.01 mg of Ziziphus, and 0.01 mg of Thymus vulgaris. Effect of time also showed a significant decrease in sperm activity with the progression of time. The 0.001of Thymus vulgaris is the only concentration that showed a significant increase in sperm activity.