Abstract

Sex determination has scientific basis for prevention of genetic sex linked diseases in addition to social backgrounds. There are many methods for sex determination. This study was designed to investigate the effects of adding different ions to the drinking water of rats on determination of rats' offspring sexes. In total, 72 female Vistar rats were chosen and randomly divided into three groups. Group one (NaK) was supplied with sodium and potassium diet, group two (CaMg) was supplied with calcium and magnesium diet, and group (C) as the control group. After 15 days of special diet, the rats were mated with male rats and were separated after pregnancy. The newborn rats' sexes were determined after delivery. The data were entered and analyses by SPSS software using t. test. In CaMg group, 66 male and 97 female rats were born (sex ratio = 0.68), while these rates were 91 male and 73 female (sex ratio = 1.25) in the NaK group. In the control group, 72 male and 75 female rats were born (sex ratio = 0.96). The difference in the sex ratio between NaK and CaMg group was statistically significant (p-value = 0.007). While the differences between NaK group with control group (p-value = 0.251) and between CaMg group with control group (p-value = 0.133) were not statistically significant. Our results suggest that different amount of ions in the diet of rats can have significant effect on the sex ratio of delivered rats' offspring. © Asian Network for Scientific Information, 2007.