Studies on seminal attributes in relation to chromosomal profile in Murrah buffalo bulls

Abstract

Seminal attributes and karyological study was conducted on twenty five Murrah buffalo breeding bulls belonging to Central Semen Station, Bhopal. Five semen samples from each buffalo bull were collected at 7 days interval. Fresh semen was evaluated for volume, mass motility, sperm concentration, progressive motility, live sperm count and morphological abnormalities. The mean volume, mass motility, progressive motility, sperm concentration, live sperm count and total abnormal sperms were 2.71±0.112%, 3.34±0.073%, 68.4±1.30%, 978.9±34.37%, 89.52±0.38%, and 8.82±0.873%. Significant (P<0.05) variation was observed between the bulls with regard to sperm abnormalities. However, non-significant difference was observed for volume, sperm concentration, mass motility, progressive motility, and live sperm count. The overall mean sperm abnormalities found for abnormal head, middle piece and tail were 1.68±0.160%, 2.0±0.238%, and 5.12±0.475%, respectively. Tail abnormalities differed significantly between bulls. Karyological screening of conventionally stained slides and G and C banded slides of breeding bulls did not reveal any deviation from normal diploid chromosome number and morphology of water buffaloes. The presence of structural abnormalities like gaps and breaks were observed at very low frequency. In general the centromeric region was G-band negative. The centromeric hetrochromatin of submetacentric autosomes stained faintly than that of acrocentric autosomes, the X-Chromosome had a prominent C-band.