Effects of breeds and seaon on semen quality and fertility pf bucks in a humid tropical environment.

Abstract

A breeding programme, which spanned over four seasons (early dry, late dry, and early rainy, late rainy), was carried with one west African Dwarf (WAD) buck, one red sokoto (RS) buck, eight WAD does and eight RS does. The buck were subjected electrical stimulation wiht an electrd-ejaculator and their semen collected and analysed.Fertility rate was significant (P<0.05) higher in WAD than in RS in early dry season. There was no significant eason effect (P,0.05). of season on fertility of WAD. Fertility was least in the early dry season in RS and the difference from other season was significant (P,0.05). The effect of season on both semen volume and concentration was significant (P,0.05). There was a progressive increase in both parameter from early dry season to late rainy season. However, RS showed superiorityover WAD in both parameters in all the seasons. There were no significant effects of breeds or season on allother parameters studied. The indication is that both breeds could be used for all-year-round breeding with adequate feeding in the zone. However, for purpose of artificial insemination, RS bucks, which produce larger quatities of semen with higher concentration, should be preferred.