SEMINAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR INTERRELATIONSHIPS IN GIR BULLS

Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken on semen quality parameters and their interrelationships
on three Gir bulls (5 years old) maintained at Cattle Breeding Farm, Junagadh. Semen ejaculates (n=30,
10/bull) were collected using artificial vagina (Danish model) once weekly and were soon evaluated for
physico-morphological attributes. The ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, mass motility (0-5 scale),
individual sperm motility, sperm viability, sperm abnormality, HOST reactive spermatozoa, and acrosome
integrity were found to be 7.93±1.72 ml, 1376.90±55.21 million/ml, 3.70±0.08, 83.67±0.93 %, 87.03±0.74
%, 9.87±0.52 %, 90.17±0.47 % and 75.30 ±1.07 %, respectively. There was a significant (P<0.01) difference
only in ejaculate volume and sperm concentration between bulls. The sperm concentration, sperm motility,
viability, acrosome integrity and plasma membrane integrity were highly significantly and positively (r=
0.512 to 0.880; P<0.01) interrelated and all of them had significant negative correlations with sperm
abnormality (r= -0.498 to -0.827). The ejaculate volume did not show significant correlations with any of
the other traits studied. The semen quality in general was within normal physiological limits of the breed.