Semen data comprising of 97,023 ejaculates of 197 bulls from 6 buffalo breeds were analyzed. The traits considered were as follows: ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, mass activity, initial and post-thaw motility, total sperm, and total motile sperm before and after thawing as well as a composite trait equal to the theoretical number of doses which can be produced from each given ejaculate. The objective was to measure the semen production potential of indigenous buffalo bulls and identify factors affecting these traits. A linear mixed model was used, including a random bull effect along with other fixed factors: the order of the ejaculate on a particular day, the interval between collections, the time of collection, the breed, the age at collection, the semen collector, and the year and month of collection. The study showed breed wise variation for all traits. The first ejaculate of a bull on a particular day was superior to the second for nearly all the traits. Longer collection intervals are better than shorter intervals for all the parameters, although short collection interval of 2 to 4 days produced higher yield in terms of total semen doses without hampering semen quality. The study also showed a slight decrease of semen quality with time of collection within a day. The Murrah breed showed comparatively consistent performance during their whole life compared with the other breeds. Repeatability estimates for semen traits were found to be low (0.09 for mass activity) to relatively large (> 0.4 for volume and concentration). A negative correlation was found between bull effects for semen volume and concentration while a high positive correlation was found between mass activity, initial motility, and post-thaw motility. Results of the study will help in suggesting suitable management and breeding plans for semen production traits.

中文翻译：

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印度炎热半干旱气候条件下土著水牛品种的精液产量和精液质量。

分析了来自6个水牛品种的197头公牛的97,023精液的精液数据。考虑的性状如下：解冻前后的射精量，精子浓度，质量活动，解冻前后的运动能力，总精子和总运动精子，以及与理论剂量相等的复合性状。从每个给定的射精产生。目的是测量土著水牛公牛的精液生产潜力，并确定影响这些特征的因素。使用的是线性混合模型，包括随机的公牛效应以及其他固定因素：特定日期的射精顺序，采集间隔，采集时间，品种，采集年龄，精液采集器，以及收集的年份和月份。研究表明，所有性状的品种均具有明智的变异。在几乎所有的特征上，某一天公牛的第一次射精要优于第二天。对于所有参数，较长的采集间隔比较短的间隔要好，尽管较短的2至4天的采集间隔可以在不影响精液质量的前提下提高总精液剂量。该研究还显示精液质量在一天之内随收集时间略有下降。与其他品种相比，穆拉（Murrah）品种在一生中表现出相对一致的表现。发现精液性状的可重复性估计值较低（质量活动为0.09）至相对较大（体积和浓度> 0.4）。在公牛对精液量和浓度的影响之间发现负相关，而在质量活动，初始运动和解冻后运动之间发现高度正相关。研究结果将有助于为精液生产性状提出合适的管理和育种计划。