Chemical composition of date pits and reproductive hormonal status of rats fed date pits

Five isonitrogenous (23% CP) and isocaloric (2.8 Mcal/kg) diets with or without date pits were fed to rats to evaluate the effect of feeding date pits on the reproductive hormonal status of male and female rats. Proximate analysis of date pits indicated that the nitrogen-free extract (NFE) was 71.5%, in which 3% was starch. When chemical analysis was based oil dietary fibre, the NFE was found to be 26.7%, only, in which 20.9% is mannose. The dietary treatments had no effect on testosterone level in male rats. While, oestradiol concentration in the serum of female rats decreased significantly as the percent of date pits increased, this may be due to the estrogenic effect of date pits, which may cause reduction in the fertility of the female rats. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.