CORRELATES OF THE LEVELS OF VARIOUS IMMUNOREACTIVE HORMONES AND THE QUALITY OF BUFFALO (BUBALUS-BUBALIS) SEMEN DURING DIFFERENT SEASONS

Immunoreactive progesterone, prolactin and luteinizing hormone (LH) ar e present in the seminal plasma of buffalo. Variation in the levels of these hormones during different seasons of the year were nonsignifica nt (P<0.01). Higher levels of prolactin and LH were accompanied by sem en of poor quality. The coefficient of multiple linear correlation (R2 ) between the levels of immunoreactive progesterone, prolactin and LH and various semen characteristics revealed that imunoreactive progeste rone showed more interaction with prolactin than with LH. Variations u p to 35% in the levels of prolactin and 23% in the levels of LH could be due to variations in semen characteristics. The biological signific ance of the presence of immunoreactive progesterone, prolactin and LH is discussed.