Abstract
Semen was collected from five young Murrah buffalo bulls in the age range of 3½ to 4 years. Semen collection were made between 08.00 and 09.00 hour before feeding. Semen samples from each bull collected at fortnightly intervals over a period of three months in winter (November to January) and three months during summer (mid-April to mid-July) were subjected to physical and biochemical estimations. The mean value (±SE) of total sperm count (106/ml), live sperm (per cent) and motile sperm (per cent) during winter were 1179·00 ± 56·20, 82·70 ± 3·62, and 75·42 ± 5·42, and during summer these were 1181·00 ± 72·60, 83·60 ± 4·12, and 70·50 ± 5·23 respectively. Total cholesterol (mg/100 ml) and inorganic phosphorus (mg/100 ml) values for winter and summer were 91·84 ± 3·91, 6·30 ± 1·34 and 141·88 ± 3·12, 6·32 ± 1·34 respectively. Alkaline and acid phosphatase (?M/h/ml) and glutamicoxaloacetic and glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (?M x 10-2/h/ml) values for winter were 93·87 ± 5·97, 97·62 ± 6·81, 628·32 ± 0·42 and 43·83 ± 0·48, and for summer were 83·18 ± 6·64, 92·00 ± 6·91, 550·83 ± 0·47 and 34·93 ± 0·21 respectively. Deoxyribonucleic acid (mg x 10-9 per sperm) and ribonucleic acid (mg x 10-11 per perm) concentrations in winter were 3·20 ± 0·05 and 5·54 ± 0·06 and for summer they were 3·22 ± 0·05 and 5·52 ± 0·07 respectively. There was a significant (P < 0·01) seasonal variation in the percentage of motile sperm, total cholesterol concentration and in the phosphatase and transaminase activities.
