Reproductive behavior of the Ram in a "Obispo" ovine flock from the Guerrero State mountain, Mexico

• Rubén Darío Martínez-Rojero Colegio Superior Agropecuario del Estado de Guerrero. Guerrero, México
• Raúl Ulloa-Arvizu Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Departamento de Genética y Bioestadística. D.F., México

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52973/rcfcv-e33197

Keywords: Scrotal circumference, ejaculate volume, libido, progressive motility, Obispo Rams

Abstract

This is the first report of the reproductive performance of rams in a flock of “Obispo” sheep. The study was carried out ex situ (18°15'52"’ LN) in higher temperature conditions than what occurs in the Guerrero Mountain, Mexico. In the Principal Components analysis (CP), the first component (CP1) included body weight (BW), scrotal circumference (SC) and ejaculate volume (EV), in CP2 it grouped sperm concentration (SPC) and progressive motility (PM). SC showed an increase throughout the year reaching 32.0 ± 0.3 centimeters at the end of the study at an approximate age of 30 months and showed correlations greater than 0.5 with EV, SPC, PM. The lowest values recorded in the characteristics were in the spring, with 0.86 ± 0.3 mililiters (mL) for EV 4,120.2 ± 162 million sperm·mL^-1 × 10⁶ for SPC and 86 ± 1.6% for PM; while the highest values were presented in autumn with 1.12 ± 0.02 mL for EV, 4,519.2 ± 187.0 million spermatozoa·mL^-1 × 10⁶ for SPC and 92.0 ± 1.1% for PM. The rams maintain a high libido that allows them to maintain a high number of services (more than three in a period of five minutes), with reduced reaction times 49 second and recovery between copulations (1.84 minutos).

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