Sperm cell characteristics and acetylcholinesterase activity in the semen of German Brown and N'dama bulls

Abstract

Semen collected from fertile German Brown and N'dama bulls was evaluated for such characteristics as sperm cell concentration, sperm motility, live sperm and methylene blue reduction time. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was also determined in each semen sample. No significant difference was detected in the semen characteristics of the exotic German Brown and indigenous N'dama bulls. However, AChE activity, which could be inhibited by physostigmine, was significantly higher in the N'dama bulls. These findings show no parallelism between AChE activity and other semen characteristics in these bulls.