Effect of Frequency of Ejaculation on Semen Characteristics in Two Breeds of Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) Raised in a Tropical Environment


Authors

  • D. Zahraddeen Animal Production Programme, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, P.M.B. 0248, Bauchi, Nigeria
  • I.S.R. Butswat Animal Production Programme, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, P.M.B. 0248, Bauchi, Nigeria
  • D.J.U. Kalla Animal Production Programme, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, P.M.B. 0248, Bauchi, Nigeria
  • S.M. Sir Animal Production Programme, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, P.M.B. 0248, Bauchi, Nigeria
  • M.T. Bukar Animal Production Programme, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, P.M.B. 0248, Bauchi, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3923/ijps.2005.217.221

Keywords:

Breeds, ejaculation frequency, semen, tropics, Turkey

Abstract

A study was carried out at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Farm, Bauchi (February - May, 2002) to investigate the effect of frequency of ejaculation (once, twice and thrice per week) on semen traits in exotic and local turkeys. The results showed that ejaculate volume, live spermatozoa, abnormal spermatozoa, sperm concentration and total sperm per ejaculate were significantly (P<0.05) higher in exotic than local turkeys, values being 0.32±0.02 vs 0.17±0.02ml, 83.83±1.33 vs 80.67±1.33%, 11.19±0.73 vs 13.61±0.73%, 4.66±70.73 vs 2.81±74.93 x 109 and 97.72±9.86 vs 50.81±10.45 x 109. It was also shown that sperm concentration was the only variable significantly affected (P<0.05) by frequency of ejaculation. The interaction of breeds and frequency of ejaculation also favoured (P<0.05) the exotic breed at lower frequency of ejaculation. Semen collection in turkeys is more favourable when harvested once per week since semen concentration declines progressively with increase in the ejaculation frequency. The exotic have superior genetic make-up than the local turkeys in terms of their reproductive potential.

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Published

2005-03-15

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 4 (2005)

Section

Research Article

License

Copyright (c) 2005 Asian Network for Scientific Information

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

How to Cite

Zahraddeen, D., Butswat, I., Kalla, D., Sir, S., & Bukar, M. (2005). Effect of Frequency of Ejaculation on Semen Characteristics in Two Breeds of Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) Raised in a Tropical Environment. International Journal of Poultry Science, 4(4), 217–221. https://doi.org/10.3923/ijps.2005.217.221