Abstract

One hundred ninety-nine male dromedary camels of Sahraoui breed aged between 1-13 years were used to study the reproductive activity in relation to three pubertal stages (prepubertal; peripubertal and mature) and three consecutive breeding seasons (breeding, post breeding and non breeding). A total of nine testicular and epididymal measurements (TEMs) and two serum reproductive steroid hormones concentrations (SHCs) were evaluated. There were significant positive correlations (P<0.05, P<0.01, P<0.001) between different studied parameters. A gradual increase of the TEMs and SHCs occurred with age categories and the maximum values of TEMs were noted during the breeding season which persisted high in post breeding season and dropped significantly during the non breeding season, however the important steroidogenic activity was limited to the breeding season. Mature animals responded most to the effect of the season, thus, they showed maximum seasonal variations of the studied parameters between breeding/non breeding seasons, however scrotal circumference (SC) and progesterone concentration (P4) were the only measurements significantly variable between breeding/post breeding and pared testicular weight (PTW) was significantly variable between post breeding/non breeding seasons. It was concluded that the morphological and endocrinological methods are useful for monitoring the testicular function of dromedary in relation to pubertal age and seasonal activity.

Information

Item Type:	Journal
Divisions:	» Production animales, biotechnologie et sante » Institute of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
ePrint ID:	667
Date Deposited:	2017-02-08
Further Information:	Google Scholar
URI:	https://www.univ-soukahras.dz/en/publication/article/667

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