Determining a Suitable Semen Collection Frequency for Dong Tao Roosters under Farm-Housed Rearing Conditions
The study was conducted to determine a suitable semen collection frequency for Dong Tao roosters under farm-housed rearing conditions. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design using 12 healthy Dong Tao roosters aged 8 - 12 months, with three treatments corresponding to semen collection frequencies of once, twice, and three times per week. Semen was collected by the abdominal massage method and evaluated for volume, pH, color, sperm concentration, total sperm number per collection, sperm motility, sperm viability, and sperm abnormality rate. The results showed that semen collection once per week produced the highest semen volume and total sperm number per collection, reaching 0.42 mL/collection and 1.44 × 109 spermatozoa/collection, respectively. However, semen collection twice per week showed more favorable semen quality, with the highest proportion of usable semen samples 91.7%, the highest sperm motility 82.3%, the highest sperm viability 86.7%, and the lowest sperm abnormality rate 9.6%. In contrast, semen collection three times per week clearly reduced semen and sperm quality. The findings indicate that semen collection twice per week is a more suitable frequency for maintaining semen quality and improving the practical use of Dong Tao roosters in breeding programs.
