Evaluasi Pengaruh Umur yang Berbeda terhadap Kualitas Semen Segar Domba Ekor Tipis (Ovis aries)

Simple SummarySmallholder farmers commonly encounter the problem of low fertility and hatchability after artificial insemination (AI). Because of that, they need to use the simple method as a tool to select potential cocks that could ensure high fertility in the breeding process. Our findings demonstrate that breeds are affected by sperm concentration. Thai roosters producing high semen volumes have superior sperm quality than those producing a low semen volume but not superior sperm viability. These findings suggest that the amount of semen production may be used as a tool in selecting Thai native roosters for breeding, especially for smallholder farmers who may not have access to specialized tools for semen evaluation.Semen quality traits such as semen volume, sperm motility, sperm concentration, pH, and color are very important, since they can determine the fertility potential of the semen. The objective of this study was to compare the semen quality traits of Thai Native chickens (Pradu Hang Dam and Chee) producing high and low semen volume. Semen was collected from 24 roosters (12 reps) and divided into two groups of roosters producing high semen volume (>0.3 mL) and those producing a low amount of semen (<0.3 mL). Fresh semen quality parameters (semen volume, sperm motility, viability, concentration, and pH) were measured and compared between groups. It was found that semen volume showed a positive correlation with sperm concentration, mass movement, motility, viability, and pH of fresh semen. There was no significant difference in fresh semen parameters between Pradu Hang Dam and Chee roosters with either high or low ejaculate semen, except for sperm concentration. Sperm concentration was significantly higher in Chee compared with Pradu Hang Dam in both high and low ejaculate semen. The semen quality parameters between groups of chickens producing high and low ejaculate semen were significantly different except for sperm viability. In conclusion, it was found that chickens producing high volumes of semen have better sperm quality than those producing a low semen volume. Therefore, these results provide a possible consideration that the amount of semen production among chickens can be used as a tool in selecting Thai native roosters for breeding.

The rearing system is one of the factors that determine livestock productivity. Good productivity can be influenced by the reproduction of livestock including male livestock, namely the quality of semen. Factors affecting the semen quality of thin-tailed sheep need to be considered, one of which is the livestock rearing system. This study aims to determine the microscopic quality of fresh semen of thin-tailed sheep raised with different rearing systems. The results showed that the best microscopic quality of fresh thin-tailed sheep semen was in intensive livestock rearing at parameters 80.31% motility, +++ mass movement, and 33.84x108 spermatozoa/ml concentration. Keywords: Microscopic Quality, rearing system, thin tail sheep.

Buffalo bull spermatozoa are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and are prone to lipid peroxidation. We hypothesised that lipid peroxidation in buffalo bull semen will increase with age and will affect the semen quality. The objective was to compare malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and the quality of fresh and frozen-thawed semen between aged (13.6 ± 1.0 years; n = 3) and young (3.4 ± 0.3 years; n = 3) Nili-Ravi bulls. The concentration of MDA did not differ (p >.05) between aged vs. young bulls in fresh (2.3 ± 0.2 vs. 2.9 ± 0.7 nmol mL−1), frozen-thawed (53.1 ± 2.8 vs. 48.4 ± 2.6 nmol mL−1) semen and seminal plasma (5.71 ± 0.97 vs. 5.19 ± 1.36 nmol mL−1), respectively. In fresh semen, sperm motility and total concentration did not differ (p > .05) between aged and young bulls. The volume of fresh semen increased (p > .05) while sperm viability and DNA integrity decreased (p < .05) in aged vs. young bulls. In frozen-thawed semen, sperm motility, viability and DNA integrity decreased (p < .05) in aged vs. young bulls. In frozen-thawed vs. fresh semen, MDA level increased within young (48.4 ± 2.6 vs. 2.3 ± 0.2 nmol mL−1) and aged bulls (53.1 ± 2.8 vs. 2.9 ± 0.7 nmol mL−1). Conversely, sperm motility and viability decreased (p < .05) within the age groups between fresh and frozen-thawed semen. In conclusion, (1) lipid peroxidation (MDA) does not increase due to age; however, it is negatively associated with semen quality and (2) cryopreservation steps up lipid peroxidation irrespective of age and deteriorates semen quality of Nili-Ravi bulls.

Effect of feeding a docosahexaenoic acid-enriched nutriceutical on the quality of fresh and frozen-thawed semen in Holstein bulls

Indonesia has two National Artificial Insemination Centers (AIC) and more than 15 Regional Artificial Insemination Centers (RAIC) spread across several provinces. Bulls in the AIC must have a high libido and produce good quality semen. This study examines the correlation between libido with semen quality and testosterone concentration to determine potential frozen semen production from Bali bulls in South Sulawesi RAIC. Ten Bali bull were used in this study. Semen collection was carried out twice a week with semen evaluation following the RAIC protocol. At the same time, blood samples and libido measurements were carried out from each bull. The frozen semen production potential was calculated by multiplying the semen volume, motility, and sperm concentration. The results showed that the quality of fresh semen and testosterone concentrations did not differ between high and low libido of Bali bulls. Libido has a positive correlation with semen volume (r= 0.52) and sperm motility (r= 0.62), while testosterone concentration has a negative correlation with semen volume (r= -0.65), sperm motility (r= -0.60), and libido (r= -0.48). Bulls with high and low libido have good frozen semen production potential, ranging from 19,755 – 21,640 straws per year. Bali bulls in RAIC have fresh semen quality and testosterone concentrations under normal conditions, with high potential for frozen semen production, although only 60% of Bali cattle have high libido and 40% have low libido.

ABSTRACTBackgroundWide variation in fertility rates is observed when using frozen bull semen, even when the bulls have met quality standards for semen production. Therefore, a simple and reliable test to assess the freezing potential of bull semen based on the analysis of fresh semen or blood would be of great value. Attention is now turning to assessment of seminal plasma components such as proteins and elements. In the present study, the concentrations of macro- and microelements in fresh bull semen plasma and in serum and their correlation with quality characteristics of fresh semen and with semen quality after freezing and thawing were determined. Ejaculates were collected from 30 mature bulls, and semen volume, concentration, sperm motility, morphology, tail membrane integrity, plasma membrane permeability and DNA fragmentation were determined on the day of collection and after freezing and thawing. The concentrations of macroelements (Na, Mg, K and Ca) and microelements (Cu, Fe, Zn and Se) were determined in the seminal plasma and serum. The semen samples were classified into satisfactory and unsatisfactory groups according to the fresh semen quality.ResultsZinc and Se levels measured in serum were associated with almost all fresh and frozen-thawed semen quality characteristics, while Fe levels were associated only with acrosomal defects in fresh semen. Zinc and Fe levels in fresh seminal plasma were associated with various quality characteristics of fresh and frozen-thawed semen, while Se level in fresh seminal plasma was not associated with any of the semen quality characteristics.ConclusionsMicroelements were shown to be useful as biomarkers involved in the analysis of bull sperm quality and could be used as an additional tool to predict bull semen quality after freezing and thawing. Our results confirm that the analysis of Zn and Se levels in serum and Zn, Cu and Fe levels in fresh seminal plasma can provide information to discriminate between bull semen samples with spermatozoa with high or low cryotolerance.

Artificial Insemination is a compatible method of reproduction in an effort to increase dairy productivity. Artificial Insemination Center as a producer of frozen semen was required to maximize bulls in producing high quality frozen semen optimally. The purpose of this research was to determine effect of age and bulls on fresh semen quality and frozen semen production of Holstein bulls in Indonesia. The research was conducted at Lembang and Singosari AI Centers. The material used were 24.634 data of qualified fresh semen and frozen semen production from 81 Holstein Bulls aged 1-9 years that used as frozen semen producer in period of 2008 to 2016. The variables observed in this research were data of age of bulls, fresh semen volume (mL); sperm motility (%); mass movement; concentrations (million/mL) and frozen semen doses at each production at age of bulls. Nested design was applied to obtain and analyze data. Results showed that Age and bulls have significant effect (P<0,01) to volume, mass, motility, concentration and frozen semen production. Increasing the age of bulls resulted in increase semen volume until 7-year-old, while semen concentration decreased from 3 years old with increasing age. Frozen semen production, mass movement and motility shown the same relative value on 3-9 years old except on 1 to 2 years old had increase. Bulls would produce frozen semen optimally on 3-9 years old. Indeed, with knowledge of this factor, AI Centre might adapt management of AI bulls to improve semen production.

The aims of this study were to determine the characteristics and quality of fresh semen from Sumba Ongole (SO) bulls which were diluted with tris dilution supplemented with skim milk. The study used a completely randomized design consisting of 4 treatments and 5 replications. The treatments were P0 = 100 % Tris, P1 = 88 % Tris + 12 % Susu skim, P2 = 86 % Tris + 14 % Susu skim, dan P3 = 84 % Tris + 16 % Susu skim. The parameters observed were the colour, smell, consistency, pH, volume, motility, viability, and abnormalities of semen. The results showed that the characteristics of the semen were normal, the color of the semen was creamy white, the semen volume was 4.6 ml, the consistency was moderate, pH 6.3, the smell was typical of SO cattle, the motility was 80%, the mass movement was +++, the concentration was 758 million/ ml, viability is 74.24% and abnormality is 16.12%. The characteristics and quality of cement in the four treatments showed no significant difference (P&gt;0.01). The motility and viability of spermatozoa in each treatment were able to survive up to day 3. The Tris diluent with the addition of skim milk was not able to maintain the characteristics and quality of the semen.

The present study was undertaken to assess the effect of season of semen collection, age and sire on semen quality of Frieswal breeding bulls. The data on 8113 semen ejaculates of 155 bulls born to 34 Frieswal sires were utilized for the study. The effect of age of bulls on semen volume, sperm concentration (million) per ml and sperm motility (%) in fresh semen (directly after collection) was highly significant. Additionally, it was discovered that the sire effect of bulls on different semen quality parameters and the influence of season on sperm concentration and motility both were statistically significant. Heritability estimates of different semen quality traits studied were moderately high and exceptionally significant. For semen volume, the estimate was found to be 0.336±0.078 while for concentration and pre freezing sperm motility values were 0.296±0.068 and 0.407±0.089, respectively. From the results, it may be concluded that the age and sire of bulls significantly affected the semen volume, sperm concentration and sperm motility in Frieswal bulls. The season of semen collection caused significant variations in sperm concentration and motility but not the semen volume. The semen volume and concentration were superior in ejaculates collected during winter season while the summer season was conducive for increased sperm initial motility. The Frieswal bulls up to 4-5 years are able to produce semen of better quality. The moderately high heritability estimates of semen quality traits provide indication for genetic improvement of the traits through selection.

This study was conducted to evaluate the response of Bali bulls (Bos javanicus) to different semen collection methods and their effects on fresh and post-thawed semen quality. The collection methods employed were electro-ejaculation (EE), transrectal massage (RM) and RM followed by EE (RM+EE). A total of 25 untrained Bali bulls (age between 2 and 4years old) were subjected to the different semen collection methods. Fresh semen samples from all the 25 bulls were evaluated for volume, pH, general motility, live/dead ratio and abnormality using the conventional method. For fresh and frozen samples collected by EE and RM from 10 bulls, computer-assisted semen analysis system was used for precise quantitative measurement of motility, velocity and forward progression. Accucell photometer was used to measure sperm concentration in all samples, regardless fresh and frozen. Semen samples were obtained 100% of the attempts using EE, 84% using RM and 96% using RM+EE. There were no differences among the collection methods for fresh semen quality characteristics, including motility, morphology and viability, but pH and volume were higher for EE than RM and RM+EE. Higher sperm concentration was observed in semen collected by RM than the other two methods. Different age groups (2-3 and >3-4years old) of the bulls did not show significant differences in volume, pH, sperm concentration, percentages in motility, live/dead ratio and normal sperm morphology. The quality of semen for general and progressive motility, VAP, VSL and VCL and acrosomal integrity after thawing was higher for RM than EE. In conclusion, Bali bulls appeared to respond best to EE and the combination of RM+EE than RM, as a method of semen collection, with a shorter time of stimulation required. Differences in age of the Bali bulls did not affect the semen quality.

Long term effects of immunization against inhibin on fresh and post-thawed semen quality and sperm kinematics during low and peak breeding seasons in Beetal bucks

Semen quality is an important factor influencing the success of a cattle breeding program, therefore an effort to continuously evaluate semen quality is needed. Indonesia has Bali cattle; it is indigenous, tropically adapted, robust, and has high fertility. Bali cattle need to be developed into meat producer by selecting best traits from bulls and disseminate their sperm through artificial insemination program. To obtain the desired improvement, semen quality became one of the keys to ensure. This study aimed to determine the factor (s) affecting fresh semen quality of Bali cattle bull. In total, 742 ejaculates were collected from nine bulls in 2016-2017 over a 12-month period. Semen was collected twice a week, followed with semen quality evaluation as semen volume (ml), sperm concentration (x106/ml), sperm motility (%), and pH. A linear model was built to obtain the significant fixed factor of season and/or age affecting sperm quality followed by mixed model procedure including individual bulls as random effect to estimate the variance components. The result showed that season didn’t give any effect (p>0.05) in all fresh semen quality observed, while there was a significant effect of age (p<0.05) on volume, sperm concentration and pH. There is no interaction (p>0.05) between season and age in this study. The variance component of individual bulls contributed 71.15, 67.92, 48.22, and 11.76% of the total variance of semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility, and pH respectively. This study shows that there is a wide variation of semen quality resulted due to the variation between individual of the Bali cattle bull, which mirroring the diverse of Bali cattle genetic. In bull’s selection as semen source, careful selection and the application of genetic standard need to be concerned.

Male infertility as a window to health

Several findings on the semen characteristics of domestic chickens have revealed that ecotype and age significantly affect semen quality. There is, however, lack of data on effects of ecotype and age on semen characteristics of Tanzanian native roosters. This study evaluated the effect of ecotypes (Ching’wekwe, Morogoro-medium and Kuchi) and ages (11-15 and 24-28 months) on semen quality. A total of 192 semen samples were collected from 12 roosters (four from each ecotype) using the abdominal massage technique at weekly interval for four consecutive months. Semen characteristics of individual samples were evaluated. The semen volume, pH, sperm motility, sperm concentration, proportion of spermatozoa with normal morphology and proportion of live spermatozoa among the ecotypes varied from 0.42±0.04 to 0.52±0.03mL, 7.01±0.00 to 7.02±0.00, 72.81±1.27 to 76.63±1.35%, 3.90±0.98 to 4.12±1.96 x 109/mL, 86.16±0.55 to 89.38±0.80% and 88.06±1.13 to 90.97±0.81% respectively. However, only the variations in proportion of spermatozoa with normal morphology and proportion of live spermatozoa among the ecotypes were significant (P&lt;0.05). The semen volume, pH, sperm motility, sperm concentration, proportion of spermatozoa with normal morphology and proportion of live spermatozoa among the two age groups varied from 0.44±0.03 to 0.52±0.03mL, 7.01±0.00 to 7.02±0.00, 73.88±1.13 to75.92±0.99%, 3.80±0.45 to 4.28±0.32 x 109/mL, 87.02±0.58 to 88.15±0.64%, 88.27±0.77 to 89.83±0.77% respectively. However, only the variations in semen volume among the two age groups were significant (P&lt;0.05). The Pearson correlation coefficients between semen volume and other semen quality characteristics were mostly low to medium with positive values ranging from 0.01-0.51 between semen volume and sperm motility and between morphological normal spermatozoa and proportion of live spermatozoa, respectively. Although there is minimal variation in semen quality among ecotypes and age groups, all the ecotypes might still be used in breeding purposes to maintain native chickens, because the results found were within the reference range for chickens.

Dietary n-3 PUFAs improve fresh and post-thaw semen quality in Holstein bulls via alteration of sperm fatty acid composition