Semen Quality of Brakmas Bulls Under Short Term Feeding Regimes

Nutritional status of a bull is an important consideration in ensuring its semen is of high quality. A study was carried out to evaluate the effect of feeding regime on semen quality of Brakmas bulls. Nine mature bulls of 3-5 y of age were selected and assigned to three feeding regimes: complete ration (CR) as pellets at 3% of body weight (BW) in individual pens, CR at 1% of BW plus fodder offered ad-libitum in individual pens and grazing on Brachiaria decumbens grass supplemented with CR at 1% BW fed twice a wk and all bulls were monitored for three mo. The bulls were weighed and their semen collected using artificial vagina fortnightly. No significant difference was detected in the semen quality of the bulls given the different feeding regimes. Similar results in semen quality were observed before and after 61 d of spermatogenesis. The mean BW of bulls grazing B. decumbens grass and supplemented with complete ration significantly decreased (p<0.05) compared to bulls kept in individual pens and fed with CR at 1 or 3% BW. The study suggests that bulls which are raised on B. decumbens grass and supplemented with a complete ration at 1% of BW is sufficient to maintain good semen quality while at the same time it contributes to a reduction in maintenance cost with reduced feed cost.