This is the first study to examine the effect of dietary
supplementation with astaxanthin and b-carotene on the
quality of goldfish semen. Nutrition provided by the
breeder can play an important role as an enhancement
factor of sperm quality.
Generally, motility is the most commonly used parameter
to evaluate sperm quality [38], whereas fertilizing capacity
is the most conclusive test of sperm quality [38,39].
In this work, the fertilization rate was higher (90%–96%)
than that obtained in other studies (60%–80%) on carp [40]
and Atlantic halibut (54.6%–58.3%) [41], and it was similar
(>95%) to the records for brown trout [42,43]. It has been
found that some nutrients have improved semen quality
and fertilization in fish [44], which agrees with the findings
in this work for the pigments (astaxanthin and b-carotene).
Fertilization increased by the effect of the pigmentswas not
noticeable because of the high fertilization rate obtained
with this species.