Author(s):

C Pandian and ST Selvan

Abstract:
Correlation between semen characteristics and testosterone levels in ostrich were studied for a period of 12 months during the year 2015. The mean volume of semen per ejaculate at winter, summer, southwest monsoon and northeast monsoon were observed to be 1.21, 1.33, 1.52 and 1.40 ml, respectively. Significantly (P≤0.01) higher mass activity score was observed in semen collected in summer (4.66) and winter (4.57), followed by southwest (3.93) and northeast monsoon (3.85). Semen collected during summer season had significantly (P≤0.01) higher per cent motility (85.25), followed by winter (83.68), southwest monsoon (74.83) and northeast monsoon (73.48) and this trend was similar to mass activity. The seasonal pattern on spermatozoa concentration (x10⁹/ml) was observed that the concentration increased from northeast monsoon season (2.57) and reached peak during winter season (3.20) then gradually declined during summer (2.88) and southwest monsoon (2.27). The mean values of live spermatozoa (%) were 88.17 in winter, 90.20 in summer, 82.59 in southwest and 81.00 in northeast monsoon season. The blood plasma and seminal plasma testosterone levels showed highly significant differences (P<0.01) among seasons. The blood plasma testosterone levels were found to increase from northeast monsoon and maintaining peak during winter and summer thereafter, the level gradually reduced during southwest monsoon. A similar trend was also observed for seminal plasma testosterone suggesting that semen characteristics and testosterone levels are seasonally influenced in farmed-raised ostriches under tropical conditions.

Pages: 2112-2115  |  1271 Views  235 Downloads

Download (322KB)