Morphology and biometrics of spermatozoa of two breeds of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis L.)

• Main Author: Kalaw, Sofronio P.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2001
• Subjects: Water buffalo; Bubalus; Semen; Cattle > Spermatozoa > Morphology; Zoology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/1191
• Institution: De La Salle University

Four Indian Murrah (IMB) and four Bulgarian Murrah buffaloes (BMB) are used to evaluate and compare the semen quality of the two breeds. Specifically, the study evaluates and compares the semen quality in terms of color, pH, volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility, total concentration of motile spermatozoa and sperm abnormality.The semen were collected as follows: a) two successive ejaculation per day at an interval of 4 days (normal collection procedure) b) four successive ejaculation per day at an interval of 4 days and c) daily collection of two successive ejaculates for a period of 7 days. It also compared the biometrics of spermatozoa and described the ultrastructure of normal spermatozoa of the two breeds.In both IMB and BMB, the semen color ranged from light creamy to creamy. Light creamy was more frequently observed than creamy. The IMB registered higher semen volume, sperm density, sperm motility, total concentration of motile spermatozoa and sperm abnormality but lower pH value compared to the BMB. While significant differences in the semen parameters evaluated were noted among individual bulls these were insignificant between the breeds in the three different semen collection procedures used. In both IMB and BMB, semen pH values, sperm concentration and sperm motility were significantly influenced by the four successive ejaculation and daily collection procedures. However, semen color, volume and sperm abnormality were not significantly affected. Increased frequency of ejaculation and semen collection resulted to a significant reduction in sperm count and no appreciable decrease in semen volume but with significant increase in pH toward the alkaline value, and increase in sperm motility. The IMB sperm is longer (60.57 +- 3.50 um), with shorter (7.84 +- 1.09 um) and narrower head (5.0 +- 0.75 um), shorter midpiece (12.0 +- 1.02 um) and longer tailpieace (44.70 +- 3.53 um) while the BMB sperm is shorter (58.4 +- 4.27 um), with longer (8.10 +- 0.60 um) and wider head (6.0 +- 0.50 um), longer midpiece (12.26 +- 1.06 um) and shorter tailpiece (38.0 +- 3.43). The sperm of both breeds consists of the head, neck and flagellum. The head is a cone-shaped blunt ended acrosome. The flagellum is characterized as a typical cartwheel pattern of 9 doublets and 2 central pairs of microtubules.Results of the study show that both IMB and BMB can be used as a source of quality semen for artificial insemination. When there is an urgent need for semen, three successive ejaculations in BMB and two successive ejaculation in IMB or daily collection for three consecutive days for both IMB and BMB are highly recommended.