Seasonal variation in semen characteristics of Friesian bulls in Iraq

Abstract

A total of 1659 ejaculates was collected from four Friesian bulls imported from Europe and ten of their offspring born in Iraq while in regular artificial service at the Abu-Ghraib Experiment Station. The work covered a period from 1 January 1965 to 30 June 1967.The five semen characteristics, volume, density, mass activity, individual motility and pH were studied and the influence of age of bull and season on these characters was investigated. The relationships between the characters were also investigated.Deterioration was observed in volume of ejaculate, density, mass activity and individual motility in the Iraqi Friesians. Influence of season on all semen characters lacked significance with the exception of mass motility in the European Friesian bulls (P < 0-05). Highly significant positive correlations were found between most of the characters studied.The aim of the present work was to study the volume, density, mass activity, individual motility and pH of the semen from imported Friesian bulls and pure Friesian bulls born in Iraq, with reference to the effect of age of bull and season on these characters. The relationships between the various semen characters were also investigated.

Effect of Monthly Variations on the Plasma Membrane, Acrosome and DNA Integrities of Spermatozoa in Friesian Holstein Bulls Born in Iraq

“…reducing conception and increasing embryo mortality (19)(20)(21). Garcia-Peniche et al (22) observed that Holsteins are sensitive to heat stress which was also reported by several workers during 1968 to 2020 in Iraq (23)(24)(25)(26)(27) .…”