Influence of Season on Semen Quality in Karan Fries (Tharparkar × Holstein Friesian) Bulls

Availability of good quality semen is essential throughout the year to achieve the sustainable productive growth of dairy cattle. Therefore, the present study was designed from five (n=5) adult healthy Karan Fries bulls from Animal Breeding Research Centre (ABRC) of National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal (India) with emphasis to observe the semen quality during different seasons (winter, spring, hot-dry and hot-humid). Weekly ejaculates were collected using artificial vagina (42–45°C). Immediately after collection, the ejaculates were placed in a water bath (37°C) for assessing semen evaluation parameters. Ejaculate volume (3.53 ± 0.08 VS 3.96 ± 0.12 mL), individual motility (48.00 ± 1.12 VS 55.16 ± 1.32%), concentration (1487.10 ± 26.55 VS 1590.77 ± 25.90 in 10⁶/mL), non-eosinophilic sperm count (62.42 ± 0.75 VS 68.05 ± 0.77%), Hypo-osmotic swelling test (59.75 ± 0.57 VS 64.97 ± 0.84%) and acrosomal integrity (74.22 ± 0.62 VS 83.40 ± 0.48%) decreased (p<0.05) during hot-humid season as compared to spring season. The major abnormalities (10.74 ± 0.18%) increased (p<0.01) in hot-humid as compared to spring season. It can be concluded that the semen quality of Karan Fries bulls deteriorate during hot humid season as compared to other seasons of the year under tropical climatic conditions.