Effect of semen colour on seminal characteristics in cattle bulls

Abstract

A total of 9092 semen ejaculates from purebred, exotic and crossbred cattle bulls were evaluated to study the relationship between the seminal characteristics of the ejaculate and its colour. Semen was collected using standard technique of artificial vagina. Each ejaculate was examined for its volume (ml), colour i.e. cream (c), light cream (LC), thick cream (TC), dirty cream (DC), yellow (Y), light yellow (LY), white (W), dirty white (DW) and milky (M), consistency (scored as 1-3), mass activity (scored as 1-4), initial motility (%) and dilution rate. The relative occurrence of different colours of semen ehaculate viz. C, LC, TC, DC, Y, LY, W, DW, and M was 28.59, 58.47, 0.32, 0.52, 9.63, 0.75, 0.53, 0.35 and 0.78 percent respectively. The results indicated that the seminal characteristics vary significantly (P£0.01) with semen colour. The mean values of semen volume, consistency, mass activity, initial motility and dilution rate were 4.61±0.11, 2.93±0.03, 2.91±0.05, 67.60±0.47 and 16.30±0.31, respectively. Cream, light cream, thick cream, yellow, light yellow and milky colour ejaculates were adjudged to be superior against dirty cream, dirty white and white colour semen ejaculate on the basis of semen characteristics viz. mass activity, initial motility and dilution rate. These results suggest that semen colour can be used as one of the criterion for preliminary screening of semen ejaculates before actual evaluation for cryopreservation.