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Seasonal Changes in the Ejaculate Characteristics of Angoni (Short Horn Zebu) Bulls

National Council for Scientific Research, Chilanga, Zambia^,2

Abstract

The Angoni cattle are the predominant short horn Zebu type found in the Eastern Province of Zambia and in Malawi, and are related to the East African Zebu (Mason and Maule, 1960). In Zambia the altitude varies from 3,000 to 5,000 feet; there are three recognizable seasons—rainy, cold and hot-dry. Although the duration of each season varies, usually the rainy season lasts from mid-November to mid-March (mean rainfall 28 to 70 inches, relative humidity (RH) 89%, and mean temperature 80.7 F), the cold season from mid-March to mid-July (mean temperature 48 F and RH 59%) and the hot-dry season from mid-July to mid-November (mean temperature 83 F and RH 45%). It is common practice in commercial beef production in this part of Africa to confine the breeding of cows to the 2-month period following Christmas which coincides with the rainy season and which appears to approximate the peak breeding season under natural conditions if bulls are run with the cows all year round.

¹ The authors are grateful to Mr. D. K. Dutta Roy for his advice in statistical analysis, to Messrs. L. Tembo, D. Lungu and Y. Kapyanga for technical assistance.

² Physiology Laboratory, P.O. Box 49, Chilanga, via Lusaka, Zambia.