Effects of collection frequency and age on semen characteristics of crossbred buck rabbit (New Zealand White × Local)
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Abstract
The study involved 24 crossbred bucks (New Zealand White × Local) in a factorial design to assess the impact of semen collection frequency and age on semen quality. Two factors were considered: the age of the bucks (5-6 months for young and 9-10 months for mature) and the frequency of semen collection (daily (Fre-1), every three days (Fre-3), every five days (Fre-5), and weekly (Fre-7)). The study was conducted over 12 weeks. Results indicated that weekly semen collection yielded the best results, with a concentration of 346×10⁶ sperm/mL, 66.7% sperm motility, 70.5% membrane integrity, and 66.8% live sperm rate. Furthermore, semen volume and the number of motile sperm increased as the collection interval extended, with mature bucks (9-10 months) showing good semen characteristics compared to younger bucks. Younger bucks had smaller testicular dimensions than mature bucks. In summary, the optimal semen collection frequency for New Zealand White × Local crossbred bucks was once a week, and the recommended age for semen collection was 9-10 months.
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© 2026 The authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
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