Decrease in the seasonality of sexual behavior and sperm production in bucks by exposure to short photoperiodic cycles

Abstract

Bucks show seasonal variation in their body weight and sexual activity. Three groups of six Alpine and Saanen bucks were used over two consecutive years to investigate if rapid alternations between long and short days could abolish this seasonal variation. The control group was kept under natural annual daylength, while the experimental groups were exposed to alternations of either 1 month of 16L:8D and 1 month of 8L:16D (2-month treatment) or to 2 months of 16L:8D and 2 months of 8L:16D (4-month treatment). In the control group, body weight, sexual behavior, testicular weight and sperm production showed important seasonal variations: body weight decreased between September and January by about 7 kg; refusal to ejaculate went up to 25% in August; testicular weight varied from 103 ± 2 g (March) to 149 ± 7 g (October). In contrast, seasonal variations of these parameters decreased in the two experimental groups. In the 2-month treatment group, testicular weight increased from 134 ± 7 (March) to 148 ± 8 g (October); while in the 4-month treatment group it increased from 123 ± 10 to 138 ± 12 g, respectively; in the same period, the two experimental groups of bucks produced a larger total number of spermatozoa per ejaculate (6.3 ± 0.3 × 10 9; 2-month treatment and 7.2 ± 0.3; 4-month treatment) than in the control group (4.2 ± 0.4). We conclude that rapid alternations between long and short days decreased seasonality in the sexual activity of bucks.