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A STUDY OF THE ACCESSORY SEX GLANDS OF BULLS EN ABATTOIRS IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA |
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| Authors: | P A Bagshaw BVSc MSc P W Ladds MVSc PhD |
| Institution: | Department of Tropical Veterinary Science, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Queensland, 4811 |
| Abstract: | The accessory sex glands of 521 slaughtered bulls were examined for lesions; normal anatomical observations were also made. The average weights and measurements (length and width) of the seminal vesicles and bulbourethral glands of 110 bulls were 34.1 g and 9.1 × 2.5 cm, and 4.6 g and 2.9 × 1.9 cm, respectively. Weights of both glands were correlated to age, but bulbourethral gland weight was more closely correlated to bodyweight than age. The average length and diameter of the ampulla was 11.1 and 1.0 cm, respectively. Seminal vesiculitis and ampullitis were found in 9.0% and 3.8% of bulls respectively. The incidence of both conditions was highest in old bulls. Mesonephric duct anomalies (observed in 1.7% of bulls) and other congenital and inflammatory lesions of the accessory sex glands were also recorded. Macroscopically normal accessory sex glands of 86 bulls were studied histologically and a high percentage of all glands showed inflammatory changes. Attempts to isolate viral agents, Mycoplasma, and Chlamydia from accessory sex glands were unsuccessful. Corynebacterium pyogenes was isolated from two cases of seminal vesiculitis. IBR-IPV virus, Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis and Tritrichomonas foetus were frequently isolated from the prepuce of bulls, many of which also had positive serological titres to Leptospira pomona and Leptospira hardjo. No one factor capable of causing bull infertility was consistently identified, and the incidence figures for observed conditions of the accessory sex glands were generally comparable to those found in bull populations elsewhere. |
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