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The relationship of scrotal circumference to testicular weight in rams
Author(s) -
FOSTER RA.,
LADDS PW.,
HOFFMANN D.,
BRIGGS GD.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
australian veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1751-0813
pISSN - 0005-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-0813.1989.tb09707.x
Subject(s) - scrotum , circumference , body weight , zoology , medicine , anatomy , biology , mathematics , geometry
Scrotal circumference (SC), testicular diameter (TD) and testicular weight (TW) were measured at necropsy of 148 Merino rams of varying age (yearling: 110, 2‐ to 3‐year‐old: 5, 4‐year‐old: 28, > 7‐year‐old: 5). These rams, although culled from flocks in north western Queensland for poor conformation or advancing age, had no clinically palpable or gross necropsy lesions of the genitalia. Despite the fact that SC measurement was performed at necropsy on scrota with greatly varying wool cover and its diverse content of plant material (burrs and grass seeds), the correlation of SC with TW was positive, high and significant (r = 0.92, P < 0.01). This correlation was greater than that between TD and TW (r = 0.91, P < 0.01) even though both were measured after dissection of the scrotal contents. The clinically convenient SC measurement deserves wider application as an estimate of testicular weight and therefore fertility in rams.