The effect of early life plane of nutrition on testicular development of Holstein Friesian bull calves

摘要

Developing sperm cells in the testes are supported by Sertoli cells; which are laid down in utero and from birth to puberty. Sertoli cell numbers are directly correlated with adult testicular size and the rate of daily sperm production post puberty (Curtis and Amann, 1981). A high plane of nutrition during early calfhood has been shown to advance puberty in both dairy (Dance et al., 2015) and beef (Brito et al., 2007) bulls. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of plane of nutrition during the first 18 weeks of life on testicular development in Holstein Friesian bull calves.