EFFECT OF SEASON ON SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS OF  OSTRICH (struthio camelus)

C. Pandian; S.T. Selvan; R. Asha Rajini; M. Parthiban; S.M.K. Karthickeyan

doi:10.56093/ijvasr.v45i6.146169

Authors

C. Pandian Assistant Professor, Poultry Research Station, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai-51
S.T. Selvan Professor, PGRIAS, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Kattupakkam- 603 203
R. Asha Rajini Department of Poultry Science, Madras Veterinary College, TANUVAS, Chennai-07
M. Parthiban Professor, Department of Animal Biotechnology, Madras Veterinary College, TANUVAS, Chennai- 600 007
S.M.K. Karthickeyan Professor, Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Madras Veterinary College, TANUVAS, Chennai- 600 007

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijvasr.v45i6.146169

Keywords:

ostrich, semen characteristics, seasonal effect

Abstract

A s tudy on the effect of months and season on seminal attributes of ostrich were carried out. The descriptive statistics on semen characteristics viz., frequency of semen collection (days), volume (ml), pH, mass activity (%), motility (%), concentration (×109/ml), live and total abnormal spermatozoa (%) were analyzed and the mean values were 17.36, 1.38, 7.28, 4.26, 79.21, 2.69, 85.71 and 15.30 respectively. The data from raw semen of ostrich during one year (January to December 2015) and four seasons namely winter, summer, southwest monsoon and northeast monsoon were evaluated. Overall the vital seminal attribute like spermatozoa motility, concentration, live and abnormal spermatozoa were better between January and September (breeding season) than October and December (non-breeding season). The winter and summer seasons had significantly (P<0.01) more frequent semen collection, mass activity, spermatozoa motility, concentration, live spermatozoa and lesser per cent abnormal spermatozoa than southwest and northeast monsoon seasons. A rise in quality attributes were noticed from winter to summer and fall from southwest to northeast
monsoon season for all the semen characteristics except abnormal spermatozoa suggesting that ostrich is predominantly a winter and summer breeding species.

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