Seminal concentrations of trace elements in various animals and their correlations

To determine the seminal concentrations of copper, zinc, iron, cadmium, lead and nickel in bulls, rams, boars, stallions and foxes and study their correlations.

Semen samples were obtained, digested and analyzed by means of the atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Data were analyzed statistically with the Student's t-test and Scheffe's test using PC programs SAS and Excel.

The seminal copper concentration was significantly higher in ram [(2.49+/-0.18) mg/kg] and fox [(2.16+/-0.53) mg/kg] than that in bull [(1.64+/-0.21) mg/kg], boar [(1.64+/-0.28) mg/kg] and stallion (0.86 mg/kg). In boar a significantly higher seminal zinc concentration (171.74+/-65.72) mg/kg] was found in comparison with stallion [(86.20+/-45.88) mg/kg], bull [(83.15+/-61.61) mg/kg], ram [(60.46+/-35.37) mg/kg] and fox (13.09+/-5.22) mg/kg]. The iron concentration in semen was significantly higher in ram [(40.32+/-10.81) mg/kg), bull [(38.04+/-22.07) mg/kg] and fox [(33.16+/-24.36) mg/kg] than that in boar [(16.14+/-10.35) mg/kg] and stallion (12.68 mg/kg). The seminal cadmium concentration was relatively low [(0.05~0.12) mg/kg] in all studied species. The seminal lead concentration was the highest in ram [(0.35+/-0.68) mg/kg], which was much higher than in fox [(0.08+/-0.06) mg/kg], bull [(0.06+/-0.04) mg/kg], stallion [(0.05+/-0.05) mg/kg] and boar [0.02+/-0.03) mg/kg]. The level of seminal nickel was significantly higher in fox [(0.35+/-0.24) mg/kg] and ram [(0.31+/-0.19) mg/kg] in comparison with bull [(0.12+/-0.07) mg/kg] and boar [(0.06+/-0.08) mg/kg]. The concentration of nickel in the semen of stallion was (0.20 +/-0.24) mg/kg. There was a high positive correlation between seminal iron and zinc in bull (r=0.723) and stallion (r=0.723), between cadmium and lead in ram (r=0.976) and boar (r=0.973) and between iron and cadmium (r=0.783) and iron and lead (r=0.791) in boar. A high negative correlation between seminal nickel and copper in ram (r=-0.709) and between seminal copper and lead in fox (r=-0.854) was found.

There are significant differences in the concentrations of seminal elements in different animals. There is a high concentration of seminal copper in ram and fox, a high zinc level in boar, a high iron level in bull, ram and fox and a high nickel level in ram and fox.