Abstract

Comparison was made for sperm storage capacity and total protein concentration in the testes of postpubertal West African Dwarf (WAD) and Sokoto Red (SR) bucks, this was determined using 12 postpubertal bucks. The average weight of the breeds was 7.50 ± 0.35 kg for the WAD and 11.00 ± 0.71 kg for the SR bucks. All the animals were slaughtered and their testes excised. Portions of the reproductive tracts were homogenised and biochemical assessment was carried out using standard procedure and data obtained were subjected to t-test. While gonadal sperm reserves were similar (p>0.05) between the breeds, all extragonadal regions of the reproductive tract differed significantly (p<0.05) between the breeds. With respect to total protein, significant differences (p<0.05) were recorded in testis, corpus epididymis and ductus deferens with clear similarities (p>0.05) in the caput and cauda epididymal regions for both breeds. Meanwhile, very high and positive relationship were also observe between caudal sperm motility and corpus epididymis with the values, r= 0.84; ***p<0.001 and r= 0.78; ***p<0.001 in the WAD and SR bucks, respectively. The relationship in the testis and the caudal epididymis for both breeds were high and positively correlate with values, r= 0.73; **p<0.01 in the WAD and r=0.71; **p<0.01 in the SR bucks. The significantly high extragonadal sperm reserves and protein activity in the testes of this breeds confirmed its good attribute for a selection programme in the native tropical environment.

Key words: West African Dwarf, Sokoto Red, testes, genotype, bucks.