INFLUENCE OF GENETIC AND NON-GENETIC FACTORS ON SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS OF MALABARI BUCKS

Abstract
Data on 675 ejaculates collected from four Malabari bucks spread over six years were utilized to assess the influence of genetic and non-genetic factors on semen quality traits. The overall least-squares means for semen volume, mass activity, initial sperm motility, pre-freeze motility, post-thaw motility and number of frozen semen doses per ejaculate were 0.81 ± 0.01 ml, 4.80 ± 0.02, 79.60 ± 0.00 per cent, 76.31 ± 0.00 per cent, 35.16 ± 0.00 per cent and 27.16 ± 0.59 doses respectively. The genetic and non-genetic factors had significant influence (p<0.05) on pre-freeze and post-thaw motility, while season and buck had highly significant influences (p<0.01) on semen volume, initial sperm motility and number of doses per ejaculate. Bucks had highly significant influence (p<0.01) on mass activity. Winter season had highest semen volume, post-thaw motility and number of doses per ejaculate, whereas initial sperm motility and pre-freeze motility were higher in summer and south-west monsoon seasons respectively. The second ejaculate had higher prefreeze and post-thaw motility than the first ejaculate. Buck No. 3 was found to be best among the bucks in terms of mass activity, initial sperm motility, post-thaw motility and number of doses per ejaculate.
Description
TNV_35thVCRI_CA_Dec-2019_SRSO-1
Keywords
Veterinary Science
Citation