Vet World Vol.10 May-2017 Article-9
Research Article
Veterinary World, 10(5): 521-525
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2017.521-525
Effects of season and artificial photoperiod on semen and seminal plasma characteristics in bucks of two goat breeds maintained in a semen collection center
2. Environmental Science Research Institute of Aragon (IUCA), University of Zaragoza, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Miguel Servet, 177, Zaragoza, Spain.
Background and Aim: This study quantified the effects of season and photoperiodic treatment on semen and seminal plasma (SP) characteristics in 12 bucks of two Spanish goat breeds (Murciano-Granadina, and Payoya) for the past 1 year.
Materials and Methods: A total of 6 bucks (three of each breed) were exposed to the natural day length and the other six males (three of each breed) were exposed to alternating conditions of 2 months of long days (16 h light) and 2 months of short days (8 h light). Weekly concentrations of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase/aspartate aminotransferase (GOT/AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), potassium, testosterone, and protein in SP were measured. Reaction time and scrotal circumference were recorded, and plasma testosterone concentrations were measured before semen collection.
Results: Sperm volume, LDH, and potassium concentration in SP, and reaction time did not differ significantly between breeds, seasons, and photoperiodic treatment. Sperm concentrations were higher (p<0.001) in spring and summer than they were in autumn and winter. Mean percentage of positive hypo-osmotic swelling test sperm was the highest in summer and under the artificial photoperiod (p<0.01). GOT/AST concentrations differed (p<0.01) between breeds and seasons. Breed, season, and photoperiod had significant (p<0.001) effects on protein and testosterone levels in SP. Plasma testosterone concentrations were highest in summer (p<0.001), and differed significantly (p<0.01) between breeds. Scrotal perimeter differed significantly (p<0.001) between breeds and photoperiod.
Conclusion: Recognition of those seasonal and breed-specific differences in the performance of bucks should help to improve the management of individual semen samples for use in artificial insemination programs. Keywords: buck, goat, semen, seminal plasma.
Keywords: buck, goat, semen, seminal plasma.
How to cite this article: Arrebola F, Abecia JA (2017) Effects of season and artificial photoperiod on semen and seminal plasma characteristics in bucks of two goat breeds maintained in a semen collection center, Veterinary World, 10(5): 521-525.
Received: 26-01-2017 Accepted: 05-04-2017 Published online: 13-05-2017
Corresponding author: Jose-Alfonso Abecia E-mail: alf@unizar.es
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2017.521-525
Copyright: Arrebola and Abecia, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.