Assessment of semen quality parameters of three Tanzanian native chickens
| dc.contributor.author | Luvanga, Julius Donatus | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-03-21T12:34:06Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-03-21T12:34:06Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022 | |
| dc.description | Dissertation | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Tanzania has a total chicken population of approximately 92.8 million, of which about 42.7 million are native breeds (Gallus gallus domesticus) and 50.1 million are exotic breeds kept primarily for commercial purposes. The poultry industry plays an important role in terms of food security, source of income, and meeting economic and social obligations for the household, especially for poor families. Despite their importance, research on improving productivity of the native chicken’s strains is lacking. Therefore, the present study assessed semen quality parameters of freshly collected semen of three different native chicken ecotypes; Ching’wekwe, Kuchi and Morogoro-medium and also investigated the effect of synthetic Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) on semen quality parameters of Tanzanian native chickens. For assessment of semen quality, twelve roosters (four from each ecotype) with two age groups (11-15 and 24-28 months) were used as semen donors and a total of 192 semen samples were collected from 12 roosters (four from each ecotype) using the abdominal massage technique at weekly interval for four consecutive months. Evaluation of the effect of GnRH treatment on semen quality parameters in three ecotypes of Tanzanian native chickens was performed; where a total of thirty-six mature cockerels from Tanzanian native chicken ecotypes were used. Thirty cockerels (ten from each ecotype) were intramuscularly injected with 0.2 ml of GnRH (Factrel®) once in a week for five consecutive weeks while six (two from each ecotype) were used as a control group only receiving normal saline solution. Semen was collected at weekly interval by abdominal massage technique starting immediately after last GnRH injection for five consecutive weeks. Semen characteristics of individual samples were evaluated. For assessment of semen parameters, volume, pH, sperm motility, sperm concentration, proportion of spermatozoa with normal morphology and proportion of live spermatozoa among the ecotypes varied from 0.42±0.04 to 0.52±0.03mL, 7.01±0.00 to 7.02±0.00, 72.81±1.27 to 76.63±1.35%, 3.90±0.98 to 4.12±1.96 x 10 9 /mL, 86.16±0.55 to 89.38±0.80% and 88.06±1.13 to 90.97±0.81% respectively. However, only the variations in proportion of spermatozoa with normal morphology and proportion of live spermatozoa among the ecotypes were significant (P<0.05). The semen volume, pH, sperm motility, sperm concentration, proportion of spermatozoa with normal morphology and proportion of live spermatozoa among the two age groups varied from 0.44±0.03 to 0.52±0.03mL, 7.01±0.00 to 7.02±0.00, 73.88±1.13 to75.92±0.99%, 3.80±0.45 to 4.28±0.32 x 10 9 /mL, 87.02±0.58 to 88.15±0.64%, 88.27±0.77 to 89.83±0.77% respectively. Nevertheless, only the variations in semen volume among the two age groups were significant (P<0.05). The Pearson correlation coefficients between semen volume and other semen quality characteristics were mostly low to medium with positive values ranging from 0.01-0.51 between semen volume and sperm motility and between morphological normal spermatozoa and proportion of live spermatozoa, respectively. Regarding the effect of GnRH on semen quality, semen parameters increased significantly (p<0.05) between control and treatment groups; including semen volume (0.48±0.02 mL versus 0.55±0.02 mL), sperm motility (74.90±0.76% against 80.02±0.30%), concentration (4.04±0.18 × 10 9 /mL versus 4.80±0.14 × 10 9 /mL), proportion of morphological normal spermatozoa (87.58±0.43% versus 91.25±0.3%) and proportion of live spermatozoa (89.05±0.55% against 91.65±0.31%) but semen pH did not change between control and treatment groups. It can be concluded that although there is minimal variation in semen quality among ecotypes and age groups, all the ecotypes might still be used in breeding purposes to maintain native chickens and semen quality parameters can be improved by injecting GnRH to cockerels and therefore increasing productivity in the poultry industry. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/5063 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Sokoine University of Agriculture | en_US |
| dc.subject | Semen quality | en_US |
| dc.subject | Chickens | en_US |
| dc.subject | Tanzania | en_US |
| dc.subject | Local chicken | en_US |
| dc.title | Assessment of semen quality parameters of three Tanzanian native chickens | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |