IDENTIFICATION OF AQUAPORIN 7 GENE POLYMORPHISM AND IN-VIVO FERTILITY OF EGYPTIAN BUFFALO BULLS

This work aimed to investigate the genetic polymorphism of Aquaporin 7 (AQP7) gene and its association with the in-vivo fertility of Egyptian buffalo bulls. A total of 188 fresh semen ejaculates were collected from 47 buffalo bulls and subjected to semen evaluation. The bulls were grouped according to in-vivo fertility relying on sire conception rate (SCR) into high (SCR>50%, n=41) and low (SCR<50%, n=6) fertile bulls. DNA was extracted from semen and a 200 bp fragment of the AQP7 gene was amplified by PCR. The genetic polymorphism of AQP7 gene was detected by restriction fragment length polymorphism, the single strand conformation polymorphism and the nucleotide sequencing. The results revealed that SCR was significantly (p<0.001) increased in high (71.4±1.3) than low (44.7±2.8) fertile bulls while the ejaculate volume, individual motility%, lives sperm%, sperm concentration and sperm abnormalities showed a non-significant difference in both groups. The AQP7 gene showed no genetic variation in all bulls. The alignment of the resultant sequence with buffalo AQP7 gene sequence (ID: XM_006066699.2) showed 100% identity (122/122), however, deletion of A49 was discovered when the sequence was aligned with ID: XM_006066700.2 of buffalo in GenBank. In conclusion, the sire conception rate is not associated with any genetic variation in Aquaporin 7 gene. The Aquaporin 7 gene could be a highly conserved sequence in Egyptian buffalo bulls. Future research on large herd populations in different regions of AQP7 gene is required for evaluating the AQP7 gene polymorphism and its association with the fertility of Egyptian buffalo bulls.

The Association of the Potential Risk Factors and Nutrition Elements with Abortion and Calving Rates of Egyptian Buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)

The aim of the present study was to investigate risk factors, serum minerals, and metabolites associated with non-infectious abortion and calving rates of Egyptian buffaloes. Data were obtained from 364 pregnant buffaloes of different ages and parities over 7 years from 2014 to 2020. Body condition score (BCS) was a risk factor regarding abortion and calving; the thinnest buffaloes were more likely to abort and less likely to calving than those with body energy reserves. In comparison with the spring season, aborting probability decreased 49.7% the odds ratio (OR = 0.503), while the chance of calving increased 72.1% (OR = 1.721) during winter. The parity was another significant factor related to abortion and calving rates; multiparous buffaloes were less likely to abort and more likely to calving than primiparous. Dry buffaloes had 88.2% (OR = 0.118) lesser odds of abortion and six times (OR = 6.012) more likely to give birth than those lactating. The sex of the fetus was not a risk factor regarding abortion or calving. Other variables significantly associated with abortion rate were glucose and copper in the sera of aborted buffaloes were significantly higher (p < 0.05), and those of urea, uric acid, total protein, total cholesterol, phosphorus, magnesium and iron were significantly (p < 0.05) lower than a normal pregnancy. In conclusion, the present results emphasize that the identification of the risk factors, serum minerals and metabolites associated with fetus abortion of Egyptian buffalo may provide useful information, which assists to construct suitable preventive measures to raise reproductive performance.