In fact, very few studies have been conducted to examine
the effects of the ratio of n-3/n-6 PUFAs on male
reproduction. It is known that both n-6 and n-3 PUFAs
can influence reproductive processes. In this study, we
found that litter size and birth weight increased with increasing
n-3/n-6 PUFA ratios; lower or higher n-3/n-6
ratios have adverse effects on reproduction, which was
consistent with the results of sperm quality and sperm
morphology. Blesbois [27] found that increasing the ratio
of n-3/n-6 PUFAs in the diet can enhance the hatching
rates of male turkeys at 48–58 weeks by nearly 2
points. Higher rates of embryonic and larval survival
were observed in male European sea bass fed PUFAenriched
diets [28]. Similarly, studies conducted in females
also have observed positive effects of diets rich in
n-3 PUFA on reproductive performance. It was demonstrated
that supplementing n-3 fatty acids from fish oil
in the diet of sows improved early embryo survival [29],
thereby increased piglet litter sizes [30,31]. Meanwhile,
the content and variety of the maternal intake of PUFAs
were shown to be associated with weight gain and
growth of infants, particularly in preterm infants [32,33].
Therefore, these results confirmed that maintaining an
appropriate n-3/n-6 PUFA ratio was very important for
reproductive performance in males and females.