Applied Animal Nutrition-I

FEEDING OF MALE ANIMALS

• In mammals, the spermatozoa and ova and the secretions associated with them represent only very small quantities of matter.
• The average ejaculate of the bull, for example, contains 0.5g of dry matter.
• It therefore seems reasonable to support that nutrient requirements for the production of spermatozoa and ova are likely to be inappreciable compared with the requirements for maintenance and for processes such as growth and lactation.
• If this were so, one would expect that adult male animals kept only for semen production would require no more than a maintenance ration appropriate to their species and size, but in practice such animals are given food well in excess of that required for maintenance in female of the same weight.
• There is no reliable evidence that high planes of nutrition are beneficial for male fertility, though it is recognised that underfeeding has deleterious effects.
• Males, however, do have a higher fasting metabolism and therefore a higher energy requirement for maintenance than females and castrates.