Changes in sexual behaviour and semen quality associated with age and type of enclosure of Saint Croix rams in different seasons of the year

Italian Journal of Animal Science

José Fernando Vázquez-Armijo¹  Carlos Luna Palomera²  Hugo Bernal-Barragán³  Fernando Sánchez-Dávila³  Alejandro Sergio del Bosque-González³  Rogelio Alejandro Ledezma-Torres⁴  Sandra Ivon Santos⁴ 

[1] Centro Universitario UAEMTemascaltepec, Autonomous Universityof Mexico, Temascaltepec de González;División Académica de CienciasAgropecuarias, Autonomous UniversityJuárez de Tabasco, Teapa;Facultad de Agronomía, AutonomousUniversity of Nuevo León, GeneralEscobedo, Nuevo León;Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria yZootecnia, Autonomous University ofNuevo León, General Escobedo, NuevoLeón;

关键词: Sexual behaviour;    Semen quality;    Rams;    Lambs;    Season of the year;   

DOI  :  10.4081/ijas.2015.3890

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The objective of this study was to evaluate sexual behaviour and semen quality of St. Croix ram lambs bred in a semi-desert region. In Experiment 1, 24 yearling rams were assigned to two groups: T1 with 12 males confined for 11 months; T2 with 12 males confined individually for the same period of time. In Experiment 2, 20 four-month-old ram lambs were assigned to two groups of 10 animals each. In each experiment, sexual behaviour and semen quality were evaluated every 2 weeks over 11 months. In Experiment 1, rams that were individually confined showed better sexual activity than lambs confined together (P<0.05), whereas in Experiment 2 ram lambs confined individually only showed shorter time to first mount with ejaculation (P<0.05). In experiment 1, sperm with better progressive motility (P<0.05) was recorded per yearling ram confined individually (63.4±0.2%) in comparison with rams confined together (51.60.1%). In Experiment 2, ram lambs confined together showed better semen quality (P˂0.05). In both trials, an effect of the season was observed on both sexual behaviour and semen quality (P<0.05). In conclusion, this study of St. Croix males showed different sexual behaviours according to age and type of enclosure.

【 授权许可】

Unknown