Sperm binding to hyaluronan is an excellent predictor of Nili-Ravi buffalo bull fertility |
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Authors: | Muhammad Amjad Awan Javeria Arshad Bushra Allah Rakha Muhammad Sajjad Ansari Muhammad Waseem Ali Fouladi-Nashta David Miller Shamim Akhter |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Zoology, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan;2. Department of Wildlife Management, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan;3. Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan;4. Buffalo Research Institute, Pattoki, Pakistan;5. Reproduction Research Group, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, United Kingdom;6. LIGHT Laboratories, Leeds Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom |
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Abstract: | This study reports the first evaluation of sperm hyaluronan binding assay (HBA) for predicting the fertility of Nili-Ravi buffalo bulls in relation to standard parameters of sperm quality. Cryopreserved semen doses of low (n = 6), medium (n = 3) and high fertility (n = 8) bulls based on their respective return rates were used. Significantly, more spermatozoa bound to hyaluronan from the most fertile bulls (57.15% ± 1.44) compared with medium (42.46% ± 1.08) and low fertility bulls (29.70% ± 0.78). A strongly positive correlation (r = .824, p < .01) was found between HBA and fertility that predicts a 67.9% variability (r2 = .679, p < .01) in fertility. HBA was also strongly positively correlated with sperm viability (r = .679, p < .01) followed by their live/dead ratio (r = .637, p < .01), uncapacitated spermatozoa (r = .631, p < .01), normal apical ridge (r = .459, p < .01), motility (r = .434, p < .01), mature spermatozoa with low residual histones (r = .364, p < .01), high plasma membrane integrity (r = .316, p < .01) and nonfragmented DNA levels (r = .236, p < .05). It was negatively correlated with spermatozoa having reacted acrosome (r = −.654, p < .01). A fertility model built using a combination of sperm HBA and either sperm livability or viability predicts, respectively, 86.1% (r2 = .861, p < .01) and 85.9% (r2 = .859, p < .01) variability in buffalo bull fertility. In conclusion, sperm HBA may prove to be a single robust predictor of Nili-Ravi buffalo bull fertility. |
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Keywords: | buffalo bull fertility hyaluronan binding assay prediction |
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