Impact of non-genetic factors on semen characteristics of indigenous bull

Abstract

In the current study, the effects of age and breed on the quality of the semen of indigenous cattle breeds have been examined. Four indigenous cattle breeds from the sub-tropical region of India, including Gir, Rathi, Sahiwal, and Tharparkar, have been selected to know the effect of non-genetic factors on semen characteristics. The study used the data of three semen traits, viz. total ejaculation volume (EV; in ml), sperm motility (SM), and sperm concentration (SM; in million per ml), for analyzing the impact of age and breed (n = 8477), for the semen collected and preserved by Frozen Semen Bank, Bassi, Jaipur, India, from the pooled dataset of Information Network for Animal Productivity & Health (INAPH, 2017-2022). Except for SM, it was found that the impact was significant in connection to age as well; young age groups (18 to 30 to 31 to 43 months) produced the greatest results for all other semen traits, whereas adult groups (44 to 56 to 57 to 69 months) had the highest estimates for SM. During the study, it was found that Sahiwal bulls gave the highest estimated value for most of the semen traits while Rathi bulls showed the highest estimated values for EV. All seminal features were found to have the lowest values in Tharparkar bulls, and the overall breed influence was found to be non-significant.