The effects of electroejaculation on some physiological parameters (rectal temperature,respiratory and cardiac rates) in Ouled Djellal breed

Abstract

In Algeria, the need to improve reproductive performance in sheep breed Ouled Djellal requires better knowledge of their semen characteristics. Electroejaculation is a procedure used to collect semen from rams. The aim of this paper is to characterize the physiological response of these animals during conventional electroejaculation. To asses the effect of this technique on some physiological parameters (rectal temperature, respiratory and cardiac rates) in Ouled Djellal breeds, 10 rams were subjected to semen collection by electroejaculation. The technique was applied every two weeks, for 4 consecutive months. The studied physiological parameters were monitored at different stages: before, during and after electrical stimulation. The use of electro-ejaculation technique significantly induces changes in rectal temperature, heart rate and to a lesser degree respiratory rate (P<0.05), with different individual responses to electrical stimulation (P<0.05). Recent introduction of this method of semen collection in the Technical Institute of Animal Husbandry (ITELV Ain M‘lila, Algeria) makes our study important to evaluate its effects on animal comfort and sperm quality thereby making it easy to select the most adapted rams which gives the best semen quality, compared to other techniques for semen collection.