Evaluation of dietary supplementation of black seed (Nigella sativa) on the histological structure of kidney, liver and testis of rabbit bucks

Abstract

This study investigated the histological response of kidney, liver and testis of rabbit buck to dietary
supplementation of Black seed (Nigella sativa). Twenty (20) Chinchilla X New Zealand White, 5-6 weeks
old, were balanced for weight and assigned to four (4) treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 of five rabbits each in a
Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The four experimental treatments were supplemented with black
seed (Nigella sativa) at 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% levels, respectively. After twelve (12) weeks of feeding, the
bucks were sacrificed and organs (kidney, liver and testes) were extracted for histological evaluation. The
results showed that kidney tubular system and the interstitium appeared healthy and normal in the treated
groups (T2, T3 and T4) with a mild improvement over the control (T1). The liver hepatocytes were also
observed to be normal across the treatments. The seminiferous tubules in testes of rabbit bucks fed varying
levels of Black seed had normal and larger well-arranged germ cell population than the control. As Nigella
sativa supplementation increased up to 1.5%, the testicular histo-architecture remained normal. This study
demonstrated that Nigella sativa seeds, at the supplementation levels in diet, possess the potential to
improve and preserve the histo-architecture of rabbit kidney, liver and testis