Incidence of gross pathological conditions of the reproductive organs in bulls

A study was conducted from December 2014 to April 2016 on 980 bulls slaughtered at Gondar Elfora and Harar abattoirs with the objectives of identifying types of gross pathological conditions of the reproductive tract, determining prevalence of the abnormalities and examining the associations between location, age, and body condition and pathological conditions of the reproductive tract. The study employed an ante and post mortem examinations. Out of 980 bulls examined 466(47.6%) were affected by one or more gross abnormalities of the reproductive organs. Abnormalities identified during ante mortem examination were scrotal wound (SW) 52(5.3%), scrotal torsion (ST) 29(3%) and urethral obstruction (UO) 22(2.2%). On post mortem examination testicular degeneration (TD) 74(7.6%) was the most prevalent followed by orchitis (ORC) 70(7.1%), testicular hematoma (TH) 69(7%), unilateral testicular hypoplasia (UTH) 64(6.5%), bilateral testicular hypoplasia (BTH) 63(6.4%), epididimitis (EP) 20(2%) and unilateral cryptorchidism (UCR) 3(0.3%). The prevalence of SW and ST significantly varied with location and age of the bulls (P<0.05). Body condition did not significantly affects the prevalence of all abnormalities (P>0.05). Significantly (X2=24.79; P=0.00) higher prevalence of orchitis was recorded in bulls slaughtered in Harar 47(12.2%) compared to bulls slaughtered in Gondar Elfora abattoir 23(3.9%). Adult 45(8.2%) bulls had significantly (X2=6.32; P=0.01) higher prevalence of BTH compared to young ones 18(4.2%) and bulls slaughtered in Harar 58(15.1%) had significantly (X2=79.01; P=0.00) higher prevalence of BTH compared to bulls slaughtered in Gondar Elfora abattoir 5(0.8%). These gross pathological conditions could cause sub-fertility, infertility or sterility in bulls which might results in economic losses to the farmers.