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ARS Home » Plains Area » Miles City, Montana » Livestock and Range Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #372809
Research Project: Alleviating Rate Limiting Factors that Compromise Beef Production Efficiency

Location: Livestock and Range Research Laboratory

Title: Effects of managing mature beef bulls on divergent planes of nutrition on novel measures of bull fertility [Abstract]

Author
item DAHLEN, CARL - North Dakota State University
item KASSETAS, CIERRAH - North Dakota State University
item Geary, Thomas
item Zezeski, Abby
item UNDERDAHL, SARAH - North Dakota State University
item MCCARTHY, KACIE - North Dakota State University
item KIRSCH, JAMES - North Dakota State University
item DORSAM, SHERI - North Dakota State University
item CROUSE, MATTHEW - North Dakota State University
item BAUMGAERTNER, FRIEDERIKE - North Dakota State University
item SEDIVEC, KEVIN - North Dakota State University
item CATON, JOEL - North Dakota State University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/28/2020
Publication Date: 11/30/2020
Citation: Dahlen, C.R., Kassetas, C.J., Geary, T.W., Zezeski, A.L., Underdahl, S.R., Mccarthy, K.L., Kirsch, J.D., Dorsam, S.T., Crouse, M.S., Baumgaertner, F., Sedivec, K.K., Caton, J.S. 2020. Effects of managing mature beef bulls on divergent planes of nutrition on novel measures of bull fertility [Abstract]. Meeting Abstract. 98(S4):114-115. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaa278.209.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaa278.209

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Fifteen mature beef bulls (BW = 800.4 ± 17.4 kg) were used in a 112-d experiment to evaluate effects of divergent planes of nutrition on novel measures of bull fertility. Bulls were ranked by BW and randomly assigned to one of two treatments: 1) managed on a positive plane of nutrition (POS, n = 8), or 2) managed on a negative plane of nutrition (NEG, n = 7). Bulls were individually fed a common diet adjusted biweekly to achieve targeted weight loss or gain of 12.5% of original BW. On d 112, electroejaculation was used to collect 2 ejaculates from each bull, which were combined, extended, and frozen. The Guava easyCyte 8HT Flow Cytometer was used to analyze cell membrane and acrosome integrity, mitochondrial energy potential, and oxidation status of frozen-thawed semen. Data were analyzed for effects of treatment with bull as the experimental unit using the MIXED procedure of SAS. By design, bull BW diverged (P < 0.0001) with POS bulls gaining 1.27 ± 0.08 kg/d whereas NEG bulls lost 0.91 ± 0.08 kg/d. Treatment did not influence cell membrane integrity (P = 0.20), or proportion of live sperm with intact acrosome (P = 0.91). A greater (P = 0.04) proportion of sperm from POS bulls (35.1 ± 3.47%) were alive and stained reactive oxygen species positive compared with sperm from NEG bulls (23.8 ± 3.71%) indicating sperm from POS bulls was more prepared to withstand oxidative stressors. However, NEG bulls (27.2 ± 5.22) had a greater (P = 0.01) proportion of sperm with polarized mitochondrial energy potential compared with POS bulls (6.1 ± 4.89%) indicating greater energy for sustained motility. We conclude that plane of nutrition during spermatogenesis may impact the ability of sperm to withstand stressful environments encountered and to sustain motility in the female reproductive tract after cryopreservation.