الفهرس 
Introduction
Metabolism of chromiumOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The present study was included two experiments; the first experiment was carried out to study the effect of three levels of chromium picolinate, 0 (C), 9 (T1) and 18 (T3) μg/kg LBW on physical semen characteristics of California rabbit bucks and the second experiment was carried out to study the effect of the same levels of chromium picolinate (CrP) on productive and reproductive performances of California rabbit does. Ejaculate volume was lower (P<0.05) in T1 and T2 than that in C (0.594 and 0.617 vs. 0.675 ml). Mass motility score increased (P<0.05) to 3.81 in T1, and decreased to 2.58 in T2 as compared to 3.08 in C. Progressive sperm motility was higher (P<0.05) in T1 (61.11%) and lower in T2 (35.55%) as compared to C (45.55%). Percentage of dead spermatozoa was lower (10.58%, P<0.05) in T1 (9 µg/kg) and higher (13.30%) in T2 (18 µg/kg) than that in C (12.72%). Percentage of sperm abnormality was lower (P<0.05) in T1 (7.02%) and was nearly similar in T2 as compared to C (13.16 and 13.52%). Sperm cell concentration was higher (P<0.01) in T1 than in T2 and C (228.9 .vs. 161.7 and 167.2 ×106 /ml). Total sperm output per ejaculate was higher (P<0.05) by about 16% in T1 and lower by about 11% in T2 as compared to C. Number of services per conception (NS/C) was higher (P<0.05) in T2 than in T1and C (1.37 vs. 1.07 and 1.11). Gestation period length (GPL) was similar in T1 and C (30.67 and 30.66 d) and showed (P<0.05) slight reduction in T2 to 30.37 d as compared to the other groups. Does in T1 showed the highest (P<0.05) litter size (LS) at 0, 21 and 35 days of age, followed by C, while T2 showed the lowest (P<0.05) LS at all ages studied. Overall mean of litter weight (LW) at all ages increased (P<0.05) in T1 and decreased (P<0.05) in T2. Overall mean of milk yield was higher (P<0.05) in T1) than that in C. However, milk yield in T2 decreased (P<0.05) as compared to C. Overall mean of milk yield in T1 increased by about 1.44% and that of T2 decreased by about 0.77% as compared to C. Overall mean of viability rate was slightly higher for T1 and T2 than in C (0.99 and 0.98 vs. 1.0%). This trend changed to be similar at 21 and 35 days of age, being the lowest in T2 (0.843 and 0.772%), moderate in controls (0.897 and 0.822%) and the highest in T1 (0.914 and 0.839%), respectively.