EFFECT OF UROMAIZ ON SPERM CHARACTERISTICS IN WEST AFRICAN DWARF BUCKS

Abstract

The effect of uromaiz, slow ammonia releasing urea product, produced by autoclaving and drying ofgerminated maize and urea on semen characteristics was investigated in twenty West African Dwarf(WAD) bucks in a completely randomized design experiment. The bucks were 11 and 13 months oldand they weighed 9.26+1.33kg. The bucks were assigned to five treatment groups and fed 0, 25, 50,75 and 100% uromaiz inclusion in the diet for eight weeks while data collection was carried out weeklyat the last four weeks. The results showed that important semen characteristics such as semen volume,sperm motility, sperm concentration and Sperm number per ejaculate increased (p<0.05) at 25and 50% levels of inclusion and reduced at higher levels of 75% and 100%. Primary abnormality locatedin the head, midpiece and tail increased (p<0.05) with increasing levels of uromaiz inclusion butvalues obtained were within the acceptable range for optimal fertility. The findings of this study indicatethat uromaiz at 25% or 50% could be included in the diet of WAD bucks to enhance sperm quality.