Genetic analysis of semen characteristic traits in young Norwegian Red bulls

The aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters and genetic trends for male fertility in Norwegian Red bulls. We analyzed data on semen characteristics traits collected at the performance test station of young bulls from 1994 to 2016, in an andrology test used to ensure acceptable semen quality before being selected as an artificial insemination bull. Traits included were volume, concentration, and motility (percentage of moving sperm cells) in fresh samples and after storing for 24 and 48 h, and sperm defects. The data consisted of 14,972 ejaculates from 3,927 young (11-15 mo) Norwegian Red bulls. Genetic parameters were estimated using bivariate linear animal models that included age in months, group-year, and collection-group (main effect of the interaction between ejaculate number and interval between collections) as fixed effects, and test-day and additive genetic and permanent environment effect of the bull as random effects. Considerable genetic coefficients of variation were found for concentration and volume, with lower values for motility. Estimated heritabilities ranged from 0.02 and 0.03 (for sperm defects and motility in fresh samples) to 0.14 (volume and concentration measured on a continuous scale). All estimated genetic correlations were favorable, but the genetic correlations between volume and concentration and volume and sperm defects were not significantly different from zero. The genetic correlations between concentration and motility traits ranged from 0.53 to 0.83, and those between volume and the motility traits were between 0.24 and 0.57. All traits showed a slightly unfavorable genetic trend. Our results indicate that selection of bulls with better sperm quality is possible.