الفهرس 
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Abstract
This study is designed to investigate the effect of supplementation of ram’s ration with B on the reproductive activity, thyroid activity and mineral metabolism.
The present study was conducted on twelve healthy Osemi growing rams, 4 months old, located at the farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University. The body weight of rams was (17.16 ± 1.26 kg).Rams were classified randomly into two equal groups of 6 rams each. Rams of the first control group (group C) fed basal diet adlibitum.The second group (group B), the rams fed adlibitum the same basal diet supplemented with 400 mg BA / kg diet which represent 70 mg B/kg diet. The rams in both groups fed their corresponding ration for 4 months till the rams reach 8 months old (2 months after age of maturity).
The rams were weighted at different intervals during the experiment (0 day, 8th, 12th and 16th week) using electric balance and it was taken as a measure for growth. Blood samples were also collected at different interval (0 day, 8th, 12th and 16th week). Serum levels of testosterone, calcium, magnesium and thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) were determined.
Also, Semen samples were collected using the electro-ejaculator (EE) method for semen analysis.
The results showed that the body weight was increased significantly with the progress of age but there were no any significant differences between the B-treated and control groups. Moreover, the testicular diameter of rams are similar and there were not any significant differences between the B and control groups.
It was clear that boron supplementation to rams’ diet increased the serum level of testosterone significantly (P<0.01) at the twelfth and sixteenth weeks when compared to corresponding values of control group; whereas no significant change (P>0.05)between the boron-treated and control groups at the eight week.
The serum level of thyroxin (T3) and tetraiodotyrosin (T4) increased significantly (P < 0.05) with growing of experimental period in B-treated rams but was constant in control group. Moreover, there were no significant differences between the B-treated and control groups on the serum levels of calcium and Magnesium at all developmental periods during the experiment.
Sperm concentration was increased significantly with Boron treatment either at 12th or 16th weeks when compared with control.
There were no significant differences between the B and control groups on the sperm individual motilities, primary sperm abnormalities and live/dead percentage. On the other side, it was clear that B-treated rams had sperm cells with less secondary abnormalities when compared with the control group.
Thus, it is highly recommended to add B to the ration of rams to get the optimum benefits of its properties on the reproductive activities and thyroid functions.