SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS AND SCROTAL BIOMETRY OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF RAMS FED AMMONIUM SULPHATE FORTIFIED DIET

Abstract

Ammonium sulphate (AS) is non-protein nitrogen sources widely used as a feed additive for ruminants to provide sulphur (S) to the diet. This study assessed the semen characteristics and scrotal biometry of West African dwarf rams fed AS fortified diets at 0. 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5g/kg to the concentrate diet as T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. Sixteen WAD rams with average body weight of 12.20+0.12 kg were used and fed for 105 days. Each treatment had four replicates while semen was collected once from all replicates in the treatments. There was significant difference in the sperm concentration (x 10⁹/mL) with T4 (160.06) having the highest while T1 (136.00) had the lowest. The total sperm ejaculate followed the same trend as sperm concentration with the lowest value recorded for rams fed T1 (98.24) while those on T4 (150.66) had the highest value. There were significant differences in the values recorded for the scrotal circumference and length. however, scrotal width, testicular weight, scrotal length and scrotal circumference values in T4 was numerically higher than other treatments. It can be concluded that AS fortified diets at 7.5g/kg improved the semen quality positively.