Association of Bio-acoustic Features of Vocal Signals with Age and Semen Quality in Sahiwal Bulls Devi Indu1,*, Dudi Kuldeep2, Sinha Ranjana3, Vikram R.4 1Department of Livestock Production Management, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cattle, Meerut-250 001, Uttar Pradesh, India 2Department of Animal Nutrition, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, Haryana, India 3Department of Livestock Production Management, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, Haryana, India 4Department of Animal Reproduction and Gynaecology, ICAR-National Research Centre on Mithun, Medziphema-797 106, Nagaland, India *Corresponding Author: Indu Devi, Department of Livestock Production Management, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cattle, Meerut-250 001, Uttar Pradesh, India, Email: indulathwal@gmail.com
Online Published on 06 January, 2024. Abstract Background Bio-acoustic features of animal’s voice can provide meaningful information about their biological and physical characteristics. The present study was conducted to get indicators of age from voice analysis and explore the relationship between voice features and seminal parameters in Sahiwal bulls. Methods Voice samples were collected from healthy bulls (n=20), maintained at ICAR-NDRI, Karnal. Bulls were classified into two groups i.e. young bulls and adult bulls. The voice signals were analyzed by Adobe Premium software and acoustic features were extracted by using PRAAT software. Result The mean of acoustic features viz. call duration (sec), mean intensity (dB), total energy (P2S), amplitude (P), pitch (Hz), unvoiced frame (%), jitter (%), bandwidth (Hz) mean N/H ratio (%) have been found significantly different while mean H/N ratio (dB), shimmer (%) and pulses were not found statistically (P>0.05) different between adult and young bulls. The seminal parameters viz mass activity (0-5 scale), individual progressive motility (%), live sperm count (%) and total sperm abnormality (%) were found significantly different between adult and young bulls. No significant association between voice features and semen quality of bulls was observed. Hence, voice signals of male might provide some clues about their age but for semen quality, there is further need to explore the interesting relationship between voice features and fertility of breeding bulls. Top Keywords Age, Auditory signals, Bio-acoustic features, Sahiwal bull. Top |