Physical properties of stallion semen in relation to some qualitative and quantitative characteristics

Abstract

A growing number of diagnostic methods lead to a perfection of the semen evaluation of stud animals. An elementary semen examination and a careful health assessment have always been the most important part of a stud stallion evaluation. The aim of this experiment was to find the relationship between some qualitative and quantitative semen characteristics and the electrical conductivity and dynamic viscosity of semen. The possible use of the semen physical properties as an additional measure of the semen evaluation in stallions was considered. The electrical conductivity ranged between 0.32 S.m­−1 and 0.55 S.m−1 with the total mean value 0.38 ± 0.04 S.m−1. The dynamic viscosity varied between 88.0 mPa.s−1 and 189.0 mPa.s−1 and the mean value was 130.19 ± 37.3 mPa.s−1. The analysis revealed a highly significant positive linear correlation between the electrical conductivity of semen and the sperm concentration in the ejaculate (rp = 0.69; P ≤ 0.01). Significant negative correlations were found between the electrical conductivity and the ejaculate volume (rp = −0.38; P ≤ 0.05). The electrical conductivity was positively linearly correlated to the sperm motility (rp = 0.42; P ≤ 0.05). The dynamic viscosity of the semen was negatively correlated to the hydrogen ion concentration only (rp = −0.46; P ≤ 0.05).

Keywords

• ejaculate
• stud stallion
• electrical conductivity
• viscosity