Date of Graduation

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Animal Science

Advisor/Mentor

Littlejohn, Brittni

Committee Member

Rogers, Lauren

Second Committee Member

Tsai, Tsung Cheng

Abstract

Feral swine were first brought to the United States in the 1500s as a source of food and have been reported as an invasive species since then without an efficient method of population control. Ongoing research indicates that the total cost of the damage this species has caused estimates to around 1.5 billion dollars each year (USDA, 2023). Gossypol is a phenolic compound found in the cotton plant and can be administered in the form of cottonseed meal (CSM). Gossypol has been associated with reduced fertility in various species (Randel et al., 1992). Pregnant sows were fed cottonseed meal to reach 0.04% or 0.08% gossypol in the diet or were maintained as controls (fed corn and soybean meal base diet) between day 56 and 86 of gestation. Seminiferous tubule diameters were evaluated in boars (n = 11) born to sows (n = 5) from each treatment. At 300 ± 2 days of age, boars were euthanized and testis tissue was collected and fixed for histological analysis. Average seminiferous tubule diameter was analyzed using MIXED procedures of SAS (SAS, Inc., Cary, NC) with treatment of fixed effect. Although no differences were observed among treatments, boars whose dams consumed CSM diets with 0.08% gossypol during gestation exhibited numerically smaller seminiferous tubule diameters relative to controls. Although CSM did not reduce seminiferous tubule diameter in this study, numerical differences warrant future evaluation with increased animal numbers.

Keywords

Gossypol; cottonseed meal; seminiferous tubule; gestation; fertility; reproduction

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