Abstract
Breeding seasonality in mammals is influenced by the environmental changes and the endocrine response of the animals to that changes. Comprehension in breeding seasonality enables better reproductive management consequently maximizing the reproductive potential of the stags. Despite that, the study in breeding seasonality in Rusa deer (Rusa timorensis) is still scarce. Five healthy and matured stags were selected for this experiment. Semen were collected using electroejaculator at a monthly interval from April to September 2012. Semen motility is determined using a percentage. Meteorological data were obtained from the nearest weather station located in Petaling Jaya. Serum was utilized for the radioimmunoassay determination of serum testosterone profile. The warmest condition was in June and it’s coolest in November of 2012. There was a strong, positive correlation between testosterone concentration and general motility (p<0.05) with a correlation coefficient, rs = 0.943. Meteorological data alone; temperature, relative humidity and rainfall are insufficient to determine the breeding seasonality in Rusa deer, bearing no significant correlation with serum testosterone concentration and sperm motility. Rusa deer stags is reproductively active from April to July, low in August and starts to rise again in September. Therefore, this study demonstrates that breeding seasonality in Rusa deer stags can be determined via serum testosterone profiling.
Highlights
The essence of breeding seasonality in many species of deer is the scarcity and availability of resources such as feed
This study aims to profile serum testosterone concentration, to relate with sperm motility and meteorological data to reflect on the reproductive seasonality of Rusa deer stags
For long human have been intrigued with breeding seasonality in animals and there had been various indicators found to be related with breeding seasonality
Summary
The essence of breeding seasonality in many species of deer is the scarcity and availability of resources such as feed. Due to the limited resources, animals need to take advantage of the environmental changes-to raise young’s during period of good quality pasture or fruits abundance (O’Brien, 1993). Reproductive fitness can be measured as the ability of the species to reproduce, sustain, survive and thrive. In order to do this, mammals had developed certain cues from the environment such as responding to photoperiod, temperature, rainfall and food availability (Bronson, 2009). Deer too was found to be able to receive early signals to anticipate to this environmental changes (Moyes et al, 2011). There is a scarcity of study in search of the indicators responsible for Rusa deer stags seasonality
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