1Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh -500 059 (India)
Artificial Breeding Complex, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana -132 001 (India)
3Veterinary College and Research Institute, Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu -627 001 (India)
4Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi -110 001 (India)
5College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh -482 001 (India)
Present investigation, conducted on Holstein Friesian crosses maintained at Artificial Breeding Complex, NDRI, Karnal, India, was aimed at to assess the impact of deworming on various semen characteristics of Karan Fries (KF) bulls. Before deworming, no significant (p = 0.122) difference in worm load was observed between control (272.66±6.69 egg g−1) and treated (256.00±5.29 egg g−1) groups. The semen characteristics after deworming were on higher side and significant improvement was noticed only in reaction time (69.00±9.18 to 46.21±5.11 seconds) and osmolality (279.56±2.69 to 292.68±3.04 mOsmol kg−1). Semen volume, mass activity (MA), sperm motility, sperm concentration, noneosinophilic count, pH, total sperm per ejaculate, total motile sperms per ejaculate, total non-eosinophilic count per ejaculate, total non-eosinophilic count mL−1 semen and semen dose harvested week−1 though on higher side did not show any significant (p>0.05) improvement in KF bulls after deworming. Significant analysis of covariance for MA (p = 0.03) and individual motility indicate that the significant differences may be masked due to pre-treatment effect. Present study showed significant group differences between 3 and 5 weeks after Doramectin application, which almost corresponds to the duration of spermatogenesis in bovines.
Bulls, crossbreds, deworming, semen quality, spermatogenesis
