Assessment of Some Morphometric Parameters in Ram Sperm Correlated with the Collection Method

Abstract

Abstract It is well known that assisted reproductive techniques are implemented and used worldwide in livestock production, having as aim to allow high genetic animals to produce more descendants in a shorter period of time than possible naturally. They have enabled animal breeders to optimize production and reproduction efficiency of their animals by improving selective traits and accelerating the genetic progress. Artificial insemination techniques in sheep increase the selection differential, being one of the main biotechnologies that are used extensively in the animal livestock. The present research has in view to assess the influence of collection techniques upon some morph metric parameters of the ram sperm. There were analyzed 10 native purebred and crossbred rams from different age category. The semen collection was made by artificial vagina and with the aid of electro ejaculator. At every semen collection, there were recorded the main morphologic features of sperm and also the primary morph metric head sperm indices: head length, head width, head area and head perimeter. The influence of the collection technique was in view along two years, studying the dynamics of the analyzed sperm indices through the computer image analysis. Descriptive statistics were performed on the recorded data to determine normality. Statistical analysis was performed as per standard statistical methods. The results reveal the fact that there were no morph metric differences between the two collection methods. The lack of significant differences indicated that other factors may affect the reproduction efficiency between the two methods. The study clearly demonstrates that there is a variation in reproductive parameters in the rams which could be studied at the molecular level to unveil any genomic markers associated with low fertility and/or infertility. The results obtained for this part of the overall study emphasizes further research to correlate morph metric traits of ram sperm with conception rate of ewes to determine whether morph metric traits need to be included in sperm quality tests for artificial inseminations.