Genotype and seasonal variation in testes and paired epididymal sperm production among indigenous bull cattle in Mubi Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Testicular and paired epididymal sperm production as affected by breed and season were studied among the common Nigerian indigenous bull cattle. Rahaji (RJ) bulls recorded the highest sperm production ability followed by Bunaji (BJ), Sokoto gudali (SG) while Adamawa gudali (AG) had the least. The corresponding paired testes sperm reserve (PTSR) values were; 149.91±2.68x10 9 , 134.69±2.48x10 9 , 118.34±2.59x10 9 and 116.82±2.55x10 9 ; for RJ, BJ, SG and AG bulls respective values for right testes sperm reserve (RTSR) were (RJ), 74.72±1.35x10 9 , (BJ), 66.39±1.25x10 9 , (SG), 59.33±1.31x10 9 and (AG), 58.36±1.29x10 9 ; left testes sperm reserve (LTSR) values were74.20±1.75x10 9 , 67.26±1.61x10 9 , 57.82±1.68x10 9 and 58.37±1.66x10 9 ,for RJ, BJ, SG, and AG bulls, while for paired epididymal sperm reserve count (PESR) values were (RJ), 301.15±4.67x10 9 , (BJ), 277.72±4.32x10 9 , (SG), 238.70±4.50x10 9 and (AG), 232.28±4.44x10 9. significant (P<0.05) season difference on sperm production was observed with the early dry (ED) season favouring sperm production best followed by late dry season (LD) late rain (LR) while early rain (ER) was least. Corresponding PTSR values were 138.69±2.69x10 9 , 132.57±2.60x10 9 , 126.70±2.52x10 9 and 121.45±2.49x10 9 ; respective RTRS values were 69.71±1.36x10 9 , 65.94±1.31x10 9 , 63.39±1.27x10 9 and 59.58±1.26x10 9 while PESR values were 275.93±4.68x10 9 , 269.06±4.38x10 9 , 260.09±4.53x10 9 and 243.88±4.34x10 9. Sperm production potential was observed to be highest in RJ bulls and least in AG bulls, while early dry season favours best the production of sperm and bulls in the period of early rain had the least.

Biometric Study of the Reproductive Organs of Three Breeds of Sheep in Nigeria

“…These differences could be due to the effect of genotype or breed. Similar reports of differences between breeds were earlier reported in goats (Raji et al, 2008) and cattle (Addass, 2011). Testicular weight, a reliable index of semen producing ability has been shown to vary according to breeds.…”

Variation in Testicular Morphometric Traits in Djallonke Sheep of North and South Ecotypes of Benin and their Relationships with Body Weight and Characteristics

“…These differences could be due to the effect of genotype or breed. Similar reports of differences between breeds were earlier reported in goats (Raji et al, 2008) and cattle (Abassi, 2011;Addass, 2011).…”

Establishing reference intervals for haematological and biochemical blood variables in Lika pramenka sheep

“…Other authors suggest that haematological variables in sheep may be affected by various internal and external factors such as age (ALONSO et al, 1997;EGBE-NWIYI et al, 2000;TIBBO et al, 2004;JENKO, 2009;ADDASS, 2011), gender (EGBE-NWIYI et al, 2000;TIBBO et al, 2004;ADDASS, 2011), season (KRAJNICAKOVA et al, 1997;TIBBO et al, 2004), shearing (CARCANGIU et al, 2008), breed (TIBBO et al, 2004;BINEV et al, 2007;RADIN et al, 2008;DIAS et al, 2010;ADDASS, 2011;VOJTA et al, 2011), lactation (BOUDEBZA et al, 2014) and nutrition (ANTUNOVIĆ et al, 2001;DIAS et al, 2010), and breeding model (VOJTA et al, 2011). Despite the many influences on the values of haematological variables in the blood of sheep, in most cases the values are within relatively narrow limits which usually correspond to the wide reference ranges published in the relevant textbooks (FELDMAN et al, 2000;KANEKO et al, 2008;PUGH and BAIRD, 2012).…”

“…This is likely because the biochemical markers in the blood of sheep can be much more strongly affected by various local factors, such as husbandry and climate (ŠIMPRAGA et al, 2013). Also, biochemical blood variables are influenced by the age of the animal (ROUBIES et al, 2006;ADDASS, 2011), pregnancy and lactation (CARCANGIU et al, 2007), the number of lambings (ROUBIES et al, 2006;BOUDEBZA et al 2014), as well as the botanical composition of the pasture, and water availability (ANTUNOVIĆ et al, 2010; Blood variables reference intervals in Lika pramenka sheep blood factors of Lika pramenka ewes are indeed different from those observable in relevant textbook literature, as shown in Table 3. Comparing the blood values of sampled animals with thee reference intervals from relevant textbooks such as KRAMER (2000) for haematology and KANEKO et al (2008) for blood biochemistry, as Table 3, it can be seen that although they were collected from healthy animals, a large percentage of blood values are outside the book's reference intervals.…”