Abstract
Semen collection in wild animals may be challenging for some methods such as electro ejaculator may cause pain and distress to the animals. Transrectal massage has been widely used in domestic and wild animals semen collection. Even though an artificial vagina may provide a condition that mimics the female reproductive tract and known to provide better results in some species, the application may face obstacles in the field. This study was conducted to evaluate the possibility of modified semen collection in banteng bull by combining the transrectal massage method followed by the use of an artificial vagina. The bull was habituated and trained for semen collection in chute under veterinarian supervision in Taman Safari Indonesia, Cisarua, Bogor, West Java. Semen samples from one Javan banteng bull were collected once a week. Banteng bull showed stud and penile protrusion during semen collection. Watery semen with volume ranged from 12 ml were successfully collected, with sperm progressive motility ranged from 25%-40%. Our study also showed sperm abnormalities comprising 18.11% abnormal sperm heads, 28.82% abnormal sperm tails and 0.94% teratoid form. The results demonstrated the possibility of this modified method as an alternative procedure for semen collection in banteng bull which may also be useful for other wild animals in field conditions
Highlights
Banteng is one of the endangered animals as listed in IUCN Redlist
Because pain and distress caused by electroejaculation in conscious animals are welfare concerns, this protocol should always be done under general anesthesia
The study had reported that yak semen obtained with electroejaculation was not better than that obtained with artificial vagina [6]
Summary
Banteng is one of the endangered animals as listed in IUCN Redlist. Conservation strategy for Javan banteng, to be specific, is regulated in PerMenHut No P.58/MENHUT-II/2011 in Indonesia. Artificial vagina offers promising semen quality and quantity in bull breeding soundness for domesticated bulls, but it is not popular for wild animals that are not docile This original protocol needs dummy cow or female to perform. Transrectal massage had been used as semen collection in several animals closely related to banteng, which were Mithun and gaur [7,8]. This method is considered to be easier and simpler to perform since it needs no expensive tool like electro ejaculator, dummy cow or female presence and needs a shorter time to train. We wanted to see the possibility of this modified method to collect semen from banteng in the field
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