Nutritional Effect of Cotton Seed Cake and Season on Seminal Traits and Testicular Histometry of Red Sokoto Bucks

Abstract

This study was conducted at University Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Animal Science, Bayero University, Kano, to evaluate the nutritional effect of cotton seed cake on seminal traits and testicular histometry of Red Sokoto bucks. Sixteen (16) Red Sokoto bucks with an average body weight of 15 kg were used for this study and allotted to four dietary treatments with four animals each per treatment in a completely randomized design. The result shows that bucks in treatment four recorded the lowest mean value (1.05) for semen volume whereas bucks in treatment three had the highest mean value (1.26). The result for testicular histometry revealed the photomicrograph of a section of the testis of a buck fed 30% cotton seed cake showed congested testis, reduced number of spermatogenic cells layers in seminiferous tubules, scanty primary spermatids, congested intertubular space (H and E x400). It is therefore recommended that cotton seed cake could be used in the diets of goats up to 20% level of inclusion without any deleterious effects on seminal traits and testicular histometry of Red Sokoto bucks.