Fertility Associated Antigen (FAA) produced by the accessory sex glands and
contained within the seminal fluid binds heparin and facilitates capacitation in ejaculated
sperm, resulting in improved fertility in bulls capable of producing the protein. In this
study, a total of 206 bulls derived from three populations were evaluated for the presence
or absence of FAA through utilization of the Repro Test at three semen collections over
a 60-d period. Across all collections, the percentage of FAA Negative bulls ranged from
13.64 to 36.11%. Within the three populations, 32, 33, and 67 bulls were observed at
three different collections, of which 3.03, 9.09 and 4.48% were FAA Negative at all
three collections, respectively. Furthermore, 27.27, 33.33, and 20.90% of bulls were
observed to have variations within their FAA status after providing an initial FAA
Positive result, respectively. Bull age, sperm concentration, progressive forward
motility, percent normal sperm, ejaculate volume, and scrotal circumference were
determined to be significantly different between FAA Negative and FAA Positive bulls
in at least one collection. However, no consistent trend was observed across populations,
or collections within a population, with regard to a relationship between these variables
and FAA. Furthermore, of fourteen bulls that produced an ejaculate in which no sperm was detected, 78.57% (n=11) were FAA Positive despite the lack of sperm within the
ejaculate. No single variable commonly measured to determine bull fertility was
consistent in predicting the FAA status of bulls. The ability to produce FAA precedes
puberty and the Repro Test can be used to identify FAA in prepuberal bulls. However, a
large percentage of bulls, both prepuberal and peripuberal, are capable of displaying
variation in their FAA status (as determined by the Repro Test) over time.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/4837 |
| Date | 25 April 2007 |
| Creators | Novosad, Aaron M. |
| Contributors | Forrest, David W., Sprott, L. R. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | 339656 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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