Nisar A. Wani, K.M. Morton, M. Billah and J.A. Skidmore
Camel Reproduction Centre, Post Box 79914, Dubai, UAE
ABSTRACT
Experiments were conducted to study the morphology of ejaculated spermatozoa and some biophysical and biochemical characteristics of dromedary and llama seminal plasma. Semen collected by artificial vagina was evaluated for its biophysical characteristics, seminal pH and sperm morphology. The osmolarity of seminal plasma was measured by an automatic osmometer and its biochemical constituents were measured by an automatic biochemistry analyser. The average volume of an ejaculate in dromedary camels was 4.3 ± 0.4 ml whiles it was 0.93 ± 0.2 ml in llamas. In dromedaries, the proportion of normal spermatozoa was 86.05 ± 2.7%, while in llamas it was 64.32 ± 2.3%. The pH of both dromedary (7.98 ± 0.1) and llama semen (7.8 ± 0.04) was alkaline and the average osmolarity of seminal plasma in dromedary camels was 392.4 ± 7.8 while in llamas it was 384.9 ± 11.4 mOsm/Kg. The concentration of glucose was 0.02 ± 0.01mM in dromedary camels while no glucose was observed in llama seminal plasma. The total protein concentration for dromedary and llama seminal plasma were 6.93 ± 0.8 and 12.82 ± 2.0 g/l, respectively, while albumin concentrations were 1.64 ± 0.2 and 2.73 ± 0.81 g/l, respectively. Triglycerides were considerably lower in the seminal plasma of llamas when compared with dromedaries (0.41 ± 0.24 vs. 15.6 ± 2.3 mM, respectively), whereas the calcium concentration was considerably higher in the seminal plasma of llamas when compared with dromedaries (4.97 ± 0.26 vs. 2.14 ± 0.17 mM). The concentration of phosphate was higher in dromedary (2.65 ± 0.72 mM) when compared with llama (1.57 ± 0.29mM) seminal plasma. The concentration of sodium, in the present study were 154.5 ± 0.9 and 141.4 ± 5.4 mM, while chloride were 137.93 ± 2.2 and 128.36 ± 6.78 mM for dromedary and llama seminal plasma, respectively.
Key words: Biochemical constituents, dromedary camel, llama, semen, storage
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