Effect of dietary supplementation of manganese, chromium and cobalt on semen qualities in sahiwal bulls

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplemental manganese (Mn), chromium (Cr) and cobalt (Co) on semen qualities in Sahiwal bulls. Twelve Sahiwal bulls divided into three groups T₁, T₂ and T₃ based on their similar semen volume and concentration and were fed with 0, 1.5 and 2.0 times higher Mn, Cr and Co over and above the basal diet (ICAR, 2013) in T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively, for a period of 120 days. Semen was collected in all the groups twice a week and evaluated for quantitative and qualitative attributes. It was found that additional supplementation of Mn, Cr and Co had no influence on body weight gain, intake and digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF)]. Seminal mass motility, initial progressive motility, live spermatozoa, normal spermatozoa, intact acrosome and hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) positive sperm count was higher (P<0.05) in T₃ group in comparison to T₁ and T₂ groups of fresh as well as frozen semen. Blood superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was higher (P>0.05) in both T₂ and T₃ than T₁. A reduction (P<0.05) in lipid peroxidation activity (LPO) in fresh and frozen semen in T₃ group was observed. It may be concluded that dietary supplementation of Mn @ 30 ppm, Co @ 0.22 ppm and Cr @ 2 ppm, respectively per day per Sahiwal bull can improve the qualitative and quantitative attributes of semen.