| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2456765 | Small Ruminant Research | 2016 | 4 Pages |
The aim of this study was to evaluate relationships among body weight, sexual secondary traits and epididymal semen quality in young bucks.Body weight (BW), scrotal circumference (SC), horns diameter (HD), and horns length (HL) were recorded monthly on 54 young Alpine bucks, from the second to the eighth month of life. After slaughter, testicles weight (TW) and epididymal weight (EW) were recorded and epididymal sperm quality was evaluated. Epididymal sperm recovery was performed by using the retrograde flushing technique and sperm concentration, motility, viability and morphology were evaluated. Positive relationships between BW with TW (P < 0.001) and EW (P < 0.05), and SC with TW (P < 0.05) were observed. Some effects of secondary sexual traits on epididymal semen quality parameters were detected: BW and TW on sperm production (concentration, total number of sperm and number of semen doses) (P < 0.05), and SC on the presence of immature sperm (P < 0.05). In particular, it was shown that in goat species horns size is related to semen quality in terms of sperm production (concentration, total number of sperm and number of semen doses) and presence of normal sperm (P < 0.05). In conclusion, scrotal circumference and horns size could be used as parameters to select animals for breeding.
