Impact of lunar phase at birth on testicular morphology, semen characteristics and blood chemistry of male goats

ABSTRACT

The aim was to investigate the possible effects of different lunar phases at birth on the pre-pubertal changes in the body weights, blood parameters and hormonal profile of male goats. Based on the birth date, 33 male Nubian kids (3 months of age) were selected to represent the new (NL), full (FL) and old (OL) phases of the lunar cycle. The FL group exhibited the signs of puberty earlier than the NL and OL groups (P=0.011). At the age of puberty, bucks in the FL group had significantly higher ejaculate volume (P=0.010), sperm cell concentration (P=0.004), mass motility (P=0.016) and the percentage of live spermatozoa (P=0.008) as compared to the NL and OL groups. Additionally, male goats in the FL group showed significantly higher serum testosterone levels at week 25, 26, 27 and 28 of age compared with the NL and OL groups (P=0.002, 0.013, 0.038 and 0.004, respectively). In conclusion, the growing males in the FL group reached the puberty earlier than the NL and OL groups. Moreover, this study may help to maximize the semen quality and develop more effective AI strategies in the modern goat production systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Goats
• lunar cycle
• puberty
• testosterone
• semen quality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical statement

The experimental procedures of the current research were in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee of the Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Inshas, Egypt.