eChapters

The present study has been conducted in one of the agro-ecological zones of the state of West Bengal, New alluvial zone. Four villages from Haringhata block in Nadia district were selected from the new alluvial agro- ecological zone to conduct the study. One hundred farmers were selected from the villages of Dalilpur, Mitrapur, Fatehpur, 25 respondents from each. The primary data were collected with the help of structured interview schedule by following the personal interview method. The secondary data were collected from our departmental library, internet, Department of Agriculture, West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra krishi Viswavidyalaya, etc. for establishing the conceptual framework of the study.

The chapter deals with the Results and discussion of the study, whose purpose is to provide sufficient information so as to arrive at a valid conclusion. Tables and Figures are commonly used in this chapter to support and supplement textual materials. Discussion helps to interpret the Results of the study from a proper perspective and to relate them with other relevant studies.

Table 6.1. Descriptive Statistics of Variable with respect to Minimum, Maximum, Mean, Standard Deviation of Values, Variance, and Coefficient of Variance:

Research methodology is a detailed plan of investigation and the blueprint of procedure for carrying out the research. In this chapter, a discussion on the methodology has been made to understand the concepts, methods, and techniques, which are utilized to design the study, collect information, analyze data and interpret the findings for the revelation of truth and formulation of theories. The entire chapter has been broken up under the following sub-heads for easy understanding:

1. Locale of research
2. Sampling design
3. Pilot study
4. Variables and their measurements
5. Methods of data collection
6. Statistical tools used for the analysis of data

4.1 Research Setting

In any social science research, it is hardly possible to conceptualize and perceive the data and interpret the data more accurately until and unless a clear understanding of the characteristics in the area and attitude or the behavior of people is at commending by the interpreter who intends to unveil an understanding of the implication and behavioral complexes of the individual who lives in the area under reference and form a representative part of the larger community. The socio-demographic background of the local people in a rural setting has been critically administered in this section. A research setting is a surrounding in which input and elements of research are contextually imbibed, interactive, and mutually contributive to the system performance. The research setting is immensely important in the sense because it is characterizing and influencing the interplays of different factors and components.

This chapter deals with some important terms and their concepts related to the study which are essential to convey the ideas of the study effectively and also to provide a theoretical base for the empirical investigation and guidance for the selection of relevant predictor variables.

3.1 Human Happiness and Estimation

A state of mental or emotional wellbeing known as happiness is characterized by pleasant or good emotions, which can range from contentment to ecstatic delight. Happy emotions can also be a reflection of how someone feels about their general well-being.

This chapter is an extensive survey of all past studies relevant to the field of investigation which gives knowledge of what others have found out in the related field of study. In any scientific investigation or research, a comprehensive presentation of the review of literature is a statutory requirement. Its main functions are to develop a better understanding of the problem to be investigated, delineate a new area of study and avoid unnecessary duplication, decide on the tools and techniques to be adopted including developing some new ones, also to relate the present study with the previous ones by finding out the areas of agreement and disagreement.

The review of literature of the present study is based on the major concepts related to the field of investigation. As direct references on the entire item are not in abundance, certain specific references along with some indirect references have been incorporated in this chapter for the purpose of meaningful use.

Happiness is the barest minimum to any person for survival and moving with a humble vision and mission either. Unfortunately, our farmers are denied to a glow of happiness, and mantled with clouds of agony, depression and confusuion. They are supposed to ensure food security to all, but themselves have to deal with extreme food insecurity, market uncertainty, undulating income, erosion of natural resources and stereotypes of farming occupation. That is how there has been a sharp rise in the migration from farm to off farm occupation.

This is the need of the hour to estimate their happiness. Agriculture is India’s backbone, employing half the country’s population. However, it has been confronting with several issues, including unfair and non-remunerative market prices, an unstructured supply chain, disaster driven crop failure, and so on. However, an alarming trend in our country shows that farmers are desiring to quit agriculture by large number, 45-60 per cent, and are committing suicides; this is a threat to our long-term a gri-development. Do they cultivate because they desire to, or because they have got no other choices either?

1.0. Objectives

• To illustrate the importance of using idioms in colloquial language
• To point out how idioms amplify the meaning of pieces of mind
• To make out how one can skip from a direct projection of ideas with the help of idioms
• To provide the knowledge of some significant idioms

2.0 Idiom

An idiom is an expression or articulation that generally presents an allegorical, different from its literal meaning appended to the phrases; however, a few phrases become metaphorical sayings while holding the strict importance of the literal expression. Sorted as predictable language, an idiom’s meaning is not quite the same as the imparting meaning. An idiom is an essential part of any language which shows the originality of language and its expression.

1.0. Objectives

• To impart knowledge of intonation, its types and pitch in sentences
• To identify stress on words in sentences.
• To understand how stress on words changes the meaning
• To impart knowledge of intonation symbols
• To develop the ability to recognize the intonation and acquire speech and its pattern

2.0. Definition

Intonation is the variation that takes place in the pitch of the voice in connected speech i.e. the variation in the pitch of the musical note produced by the vibration of the vocal cords. It is melody in spoken language.

1.0. Objectives

• To demonstrate meaning, definition, importance, essentials of the précis writing
• To impart the technique how to write the essence of texts
• To make readers develop an objective approach

2.0 Precise

“Precise may be defined as a concise and clear statement embodying in a connected and readable shape the substance of a longer passage.”

The word “Precis” is a French term PRECISE which means summary. Thus it conveys the brief statement of the longer texts.

3.0 How to Write a Precise

1.0. Objectives

• To provide knowledge of the correct structure and content of the formal letter
• To show the letter-writing etiquette
• To impart knowledge of different types of letters
• To make out how to develop ideas in a formal and informal letter
• To make them practice writing letters

1.0. Objectives

• Identifying the subject and verb of a sentence
• Understand the rules of correct writing
• Illustration of the significance of the forms of verbs according to the subject in sentences
• The practice of choosing a verb that goes with the subject of a sentence

1.0. Objectives

• To make implication of report writing
• To impart knowledge of different techniques of report writing
• To make out the methods to remove hurdles trying in way of transmitting the information

2.0. Characteristics of a Report

1. Accuracy: An Effective report reflects their purpose. While putting together a report, your investigation, analysis, and recommendations should be directed by this central purpose. Precision gives unity and coherence to your report and makes it a valuable document.

1.0. Objectives

• To produce proficient and smart readers
• To develop constructive comprehension of texts
• To impart the techniques of a fusion of knowledge and skills and train learners accordingly
• To develop strategies to get the crisp of the meaning of paragraphs and pages.
• To practice reading comprehension

1.0. Objectives

• To illustrate public speaking competence
• To impart the knowledge of making speech more effective
• To prepare learners able to make the balance between orator and audience
• To inculcate presentation skills in the learners

2.0. What is Public Speaking

Public speaking is a process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners.

1.0. Objectives

• To describe how to develop thoughts in various situations
• To manifest the methods to judge the mind of people
• To make learners familiar with ready sentences
• To practice to imagine the consequence of conversation
• To learn to use interrogative adverbs effectively
• Impart the manner to utter information, ideas, and concepts in a more polite way

1.0. Objectives

• To increase communication skills of learners
• To enable to develop of genuine and original dialogue in various situations
• To inculcate the habit to handle an unknown situation
• To polish behaviou in line of dialogue

2.0. Situational Dialogues and Role Play blend together

They are introduced to generating speech among the students. Taking one situation, one has to write dialogues. Dialogue is nothing other than writing a conversation between two persons or more than two persons in a particular situation. One person has to take a situation and create characters and feel as other characters and build a dialogue.

1.0. Objectives

• To impart the concept of word formation
• To train to use and change words in various category
• To provide the knowledge of affixation, conversion and compounding

2.0. Word Formation

The term ‘word formation’ does not impart an exact, universally endorsed usage. It focuses on all processes associated to changing the form of the word by, for example, affixation basically refers to morphology. In broad sense word formation depicts the processes of forming new lexical units. These changes can be noticed and understood easily, sometimes it becomes complex too.

1.0. Objectives

• To impart knowledge of Phonetic and phonology and the significance of its taching and learning
• To make understand how sounds of the alphabets are made and perceived
• To demonstrate the use of the phonetics material

2.0 Introduction to Phonetics

Phonetics is a branch of Linguistics. It is a word derived from the Greek word, phone= sound/ voice. It is the study of sounds and the human voice.

Phonology is the study of sound patterns of a particular language.

1.0. Objectives

• To impart knowledge about voices
• To differentiate between active and passive voices
• To escribe rules of transferring from active to passive and Vice versa
• To provide the knowledge of making communication and writing more effective with the inclusion of voice

Active Voice is used when the subject of the sentence is prime and emphasis is on that.

E.g. Teacher elected him CR of the class.

1.0. Objectives

• To make out the definition of verb and its kinds
• To enable the students to show the correct usage of verbs
• To train learners to identify appropriate verbs for subjects
• To practise to use different types of verbs suitable, in sentence, to express the intension

2.0 What is a Verb

“A verb is a word that implies an action, state of being”. It is a very important part of a sentence as it operates sentences in particular tense. It is called the soul of the English language.

3.0 Kinds of Verb

To understand the kinds of the verb see the chart given below-

1.0. Objectives

• To impart knowledge of tense and verb
• To study forms of verbs and its use in twelve verb tenses
• To enable students to develop sentences in all tenses as required
• To study the pattern/formula of making sentences effectively

2.0. What is Tense

A tense can be defined as the form of a verb that indicates the time and the state of an action or event or Tense is the study of forms of verbs.

1.0. Objectives

• To study the elements of the sentence and its order in that
• To identify elements of the sentence and observe the changing of words’ order in that
• To teach to label elements used in the sentence
• To teach that every language has its conventions for word order

2.0. Grammatical Units

To know any language knowledge of its grammar is highly required. As it is set of structural rules governing the composition of clauses, phrases and words in a language. On the basis of function, words’ categories are described. Utterance, morpheme, words, phrases, clauses and sentences in language are called grammatical units. Here few lines are given below following the description of grammatical units used.

.0. Objectives

• To recognize different types of sentences and text
• To demonstrate the correct structure of sentence and text
• To demonstrate the method to transform the tense of sentence
• To idenitify the function of teaching verb tense

2.0. Basic Sentence Structure

2.1. Subject and Predicate

In the following short sentence.

1.0. Objectives

• To describe communication, its type and process
• To illustrate the methods to make listening effectively
• To impart knowledge of effective communication skills
• To impart tips to improve their verbal and non-verbal communication

Learning outcomes

• You should know how to make an audio or video script.
• Describe the differences between the different kinds of programmes.
• Examine the different script development stages. Before we start, please complete the following activity.

Reflect on the programmes you watch on TV or any other programme using Over the top (OTT) platforms like amazon, prime video, Netflix etc. How many of it you classify as

1. Entertainment
2. Educational
3. Informational

Learning outcome

• To learn writing for print media such as newspaper, magazine, books.
• To have in knowledge about script writing in electronic medium such as using mobile apps- LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Podcast

What is Print Media?

It’s a sort of mass media that publishes news and information. Print media is the oldest way to reach a large audience. It exclusively distributes information in physical copy

Books, magazines, and newspapers are popular print media. These may consist of chapters or themes, pictures, advertising, printed journals, pamphlets and so on. Print media cannot do live reporting, discussions, or shows.

Learning outcomes

• understand the functioning of community radio in dissemination of from technology.

Introduction

Radio is the oldest type of media, and via radio the information revolution saw the green revolution. Farmers listen to the radio for weather, market price, and pestilence updates. Government began to encourage citizens by establishing radio rural forums (RRF). The primary purpose of a rural radio forum is to discuss and act. Here, a group of twenty individuals debate cultivation-related concerns and provide questions for the subsequent Radio rural forum. This allowed radio forum to get widespread popularity.

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is a set of tools and techniques used with households to gather and analyse information on community resources, problems, potential and needs.

Why is PRA used?

Look at how a village or community is now and what it could be.

Look at problems and what’s causing them.

Help families find ways to deal with problems and take advantage of opportunities.

Learning outcomes

• To understand national and international NGOs and their functioning.
• NGO types and rules governing them.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as the name suggests, are free from the government in its functioning. NGOs are groups or organisations of voluntary persons who do not represent any government action, and their members and associated persons manage all the functions. These numbers work as per the rules and regulations prescribed by the government, but they are independent of governmental control.

Learning Objectives

1. To evaluation of actual functioning of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDAs)
2. Guidelines for implementation of the various Rural Development Programmes.

Theory/Principle/Background of the topic

District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) is the district-level entity that oversees Ministry of Rural Development anti-poverty programmes. This organisation was initially founded to execute the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP).

DRDAs were later given state and central government programmes. DRDA’s job is to identify rural needs and implement relevant programmes has a technical, administrative, and financial role in scheme implementation. DRDA disburses cash for programmes and offers management and technical assistance.

Learning Objectives

1. To raise awareness of a community problem and support its solution.
2. Induce the emotional participation of the community at the local level and establish a positive psychological climate for new activities.

The various methods of data gathering involve the use of appropriate recording forms. These are called tools or instruments of data collection; they consist of an observation schedule or interview guide, an interview schedule, a questionnaire, etc.

Learning outcome

The purpose is to enable the student to develop deeper knowledge, understanding, capabilities, and attitudes in the context of micro teaching skills.

icroteaching helps teachers worldwide improve easy teaching tasks. Microteaching promotes real-time learning experiences for novices and seniors. Presentation and reinforcement skills help inexperienced teachers acquire the art of teaching easily and thoroughly. 

Learning outcomes

1. To make student aware about proper procedure of conducting oral and poster presentation and to develop their skill in delivering effective presentation.

What is presentation?

• Presentation is the process of demonstrating and conveying a topic’s information to an audience or learner.
• Presentation may be customised for speaking to a group, addressing a meeting, or briefing a team.

Making oral presentations is nothing new for anyone, but there is still a lot of room for growth. An oral presentation is more than simply delivering the relevant technical information and using the perfect language. Public speaking is an address delivered at an anniversary or inauguration to encourage, congratulate, or amuse the audience.

Learning outcome

The purpose is to enable the student to develop deeper knowledge understanding capabilities and attitudes in the context of preparation of extension literature.

Extension materials are straightforward messages that encourage, educate, and improve farmers’ understanding of an innovative, proven technology. Therefore, extension materials must encourage awareness and highlight the benefits and effective application of innovative technologies. Orally or through bulletins/brochures, fact sheets, posters, radio dramas, and videos, extension materials can suggest innovative technologies. Literature is the foundation of any instructional programme. Extension materials must persuade individuals to alter their behaviour.

Learning outcome

In this exercise we will learn about handling of:

1. 18-135 mm lens
2. 70-200 mm zoom lens
3. 8.3.5 mm DSLR lens
4. Babylight
5. Computer
6. DSLR camera
7. Field recorder
8. Mic rod
9. Power adaptor
10. Projector
11. SD card 32 GB
12. Speaker
13. Tripod
14. Projector screen

Learning outcome

The purpose is to enable the student to develop deeper knowledge understanding capabilities and attitudes in the context of group discussion.

What is the group?

A social group is a unit of two or more person in the reciprocal interaction of communication with each other.

Stages of Group Formation

Bruce Tuckman presented a model of five stages.

Orientation (Forming Stage)

During this stage, group members come together and begin to establish relationships with each other. They also clarify their goals and objectives for the group.

Power Struggle (Storming Stage)

As the group begins to work together, conflicts and differences in opinions may arise. This stage is characterized by power struggles, disagreements, and a lack of cohesion among group members.

Cooperation and Integration (Norming Stage)

In this stage, the group begins to resolve conflicts and work towards a common goal. Members begin to cooperate with each other, establish norms and rules, and develop a sense of unity.

The successful AI program depends on the health of the semen donors followed by hygiene in semen collection, processing, storage and AI methods as well as reproductive health of the females. However, the microbial contamination may not be able to avoid completely but it can be reduced to the minimum threshold level by adopting hygienic procedures.

The hygienic condition of the neat / frozen semen samples can be assessed periodically by enumerating the bacterial load apart from the periodical screening of bucks for the presence of various causative agents in animals and its transfer to the females via semen samples.

Though both viable and total (viable and nonviable) bacterial counts can be done, the viable techniques are more commonly used in diagnostic and food hygiene procedures. The viable bacteria are capable of multiplication with the production of visible colonies on or in agar media. In viable techniques, the assumption is made that one well-spaced bacterial cell gives rise to one colony. The bacterial colonies, rather than bacterial cells, are counted in these techniques. Among the viable counting techniques like Spread plate, Pour plate, Miles, Misra, Filtration are available and each has its own inherent errors, the pour plate counting method is explained as follows:

The major requirement that distinguishes frozen semen/IVF laboratory from other laboratories is the need to maintain aseptic conditions. The wash up and sterilization of media and other equipments should be located at one end of the room and clean area for sterilize handling at the other end, and preparation, storage and incubation in between. The storage and incubation area should be near to the sterile working area.

In recent years, the introduction of laminar flow cabinets has been a great boon in providing a sterile working area and allows the use of unspecialized laboratory accommodation for culture work. For sterile work, area should be in a quiet part of the laboratory preferably in a cubicle where a laminar flow cabinet is suitably fitted. The area should be free from dust or draughts. Nothing should be stored on the laminar flow cabinet or bench used for sterile handling except most necessary equipments like holding pipettes etc. The laminar flow cabinets provide sterile air blown over the work surface. For laboratory, a horizontal laminar flow is more preferable as opposed to a vertical one because of ease of handling the ovaries etc. If an air curtain is provided at the door of the cabinet, introduction of dust etc. can be avoided. In India laminar flow are manufactured by companies like Clenzoids, Yorco etc, among others. The laminar flow size should be a minimum of 300 X 300 or 450 X 450 mm with a 12-18 in, square filter size).

Artificial Insemination is a very important tool that caters to propagation of high-quality germplasm and breed improvement. It is also economical as it aids in breeding without the necessary to maintain the adult bucks cutting the input cost. However, the bucks maintained for production of semen and AI should be free of any diseases and in specifically venereal diseases. Venereal diseases are not so uncommon in livestock, and they cause a variety of symptoms including orchitis, abortions, still birth, vulvovaginitis etc., leading to infertility in breeding animals. Venereal diseases are infectious in nature and they are transmitted mainly through semen, feed-water, AI gun, artificial vagina, fomites etc. Due to venereal diseases, infertility, orchitis, epididymitis, vasculitis etc. occurs in bucks and leads to abortions and still birth in does (Ahmed et al, 2010; Beena et al, 2017), because they are directly linked with the economic output (Sharma et al, 2008; Azawi et al, 2010) and overall health of the animal affecting the productivity significantly (Menzies, 2011). To keep abortions and other venereal diseases at bay, it is important to raise disease free breeding bucks that deliver clean-semen for natural service or AI operation. Abortion rate between 2 to 5% indicates its endemic nature and abortion level exceeding 5% requires aggressive investigation (Menzies, 2011). Infectious agents that include viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites etc.; as well as noninfectious cause can lead to infertility in goats (Moeller, 2001; Szeredi et al, 2006; Smith and Sherman, 2009). Many infectious causes are known to mankind that leads to trans-venereal diseases in goats including Brucella melitensis, Chlamydiosis, Campylobacter spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Toxoplasmosis, Coxiella burnetii etc. There are numerous viruses such as

An early and accurate diagnosis of pregnancy is a crucial factor for successful management and maintaining cost-effective production in scientific goat production for better economic returns. In addition, accurate information on the stage of gestation would also be useful to dry off lactating females at an adequate period. The techniques for pregnancy diagnosis in goats are mostly depend upon visualization of the conceptus or determination of its secretory products in the maternal blood or the milk are the most defined and specific methods for pregnancy. The choice of pregnancy diagnosis method in goats depends on the stage of gestation. Some methods have a higher degree of accuracy at the early gestation while others do at the late stage of gestation. Assessment of pregnancy in terms of hormonal assay of blood plasma, serum, or milk, and estimation of pregnancy-specific antigens or proteins give a higher level of accuracy within 30 days of pregnancy. There are many methods that are currently being used for pregnancy diagnosis in goats. Among those, the method applied should be safe for both offspring and mother and need to be low-cost and easy to apply. Various techniques have different kinds of limitations to their wide-scale use. These techniques are classified into 3 classes, which are as follows:

Artificial Insemination (AI) is one of the most popular first generation assisted reproductive technology as well as a breeding tool, ever evolved for the genetic improvement of cattle and buffalo industry throughout the world. The advent of frozen semen has further revolutionized this technique. Presently, use of sex- sorted-semen in cattle breeding is also coming into vogue. Contrary to cattle and buffalo, use of AI in small ruminants has not gained such impetus.

It has been reported that lower pregnancy rates were obtained when ewes and does are bred with frozen or extended liquid semen using intra-vaginal or intracervical technique of insemination. The reason being anatomy of the cervix of sheep and goats; cervix is long and tortuous with presence of 4-7 cervical rings. Furthermore, these cervical rings are directed caudally hindering the lumen of the cervix thereby causing hindrance (more prominent in sheep) while passing the AI gun during intra-cervical or trans-cervical AI (TCAI). There are several reports which support the fact that, as the depth of semen deposition into the cervix increases, the pregnancy rates also improve due to availability of a greater number of motile sperms for fertilization.

The selection of breeding bucks in relation to maximizing the reproductive efficiency depends upon males. AI permits intense selection of sires with exceptional merits and provides opportunity to exploit the value of superior sires. Young males can be trained for exhibiting sexual behaviors and semen collection through the uses of male, anoestrus doe or oestrus doe as dummy. Successful AI depends on precise management of semen collection, its frequency and use. The semen collection implies mounting a teaser doe or a dummy. Artificial vagina (AV) and electro-ejaculator (EE) are the two methods for semen collection in bucks. AV method is being used as universal method for routine semen collection whereas electro-ejaculation is generally used for collecting semen from untrained and valuable sires incapable of service. Moreover, this method of collection is painful for the animals. Semen evaluation should be rapid and effective so that collected semen samples can be processed for initial quality which ultimately affects the fertility. There are several tests for the assessment of semen quality but no single test is reliable to give definite prediction of the fertility.

Goats remain an important and instant source of income as well as livelihood for the majority (70-90 %) of small and marginal farmers in India. Goats are the animals with multiple utility like milk, meat, hide, fibre and manure. They are more tolerant to harsh environment (better resistance to heat stress and drought, better utilization and digestibility of pastures) and give more production per unit investment. Goats are spontaneously ovulating, poly-estrous animals and show seasonal pattern in reproductive activity related to the annual variations of photoperiod. Onset and length of their breeding period throughout the year is dependent on different environmental and physiological factors viz. latitude and climate, feed and fodder availability, breed and breeding system. This in turn affects round the year availability of meat and milk to full fill the market demands. When kids are born out of season, adequate supply of pastures along with good management practices must be ensured in order to minimize kid’s mortality and promote their optimum growth.

All living organisms need to reproduce in order to maintain their species and improve the economics of animal husbandry. Since the beginning of time, different methods of successful reproduction have been created, including artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization. To shield sperm from damaging elements like freezing, osmotic shock, oxidative stress, and cell damage by ice crystals, semen extenders were developed. Semen extenders maintain sperm’s characteristics, such as its morphology, motility, and viability as well as its membrane, acrosomal, and DNA integrity. To improve semen quality for fertilization, semen extenders must offer a suitable pH, adenosine triphosphate, anti-cooling and anti-freeze shock, and antioxidant activity. As a result, this compilation of research offers exact information on various semen extenders, preservation mechanisms, and crucial semen extender additions in goats. By incorporating various types of additives in semen extenders for cryopreservation, significant improvement is reported in post thaw sperm quality in terms of increased % motility, viability, PMAI, MMP and reduced DNA fragmentation, capacitation like changes reflected by less CTC pattern B and AR, Tyrosine Phosphorylated pattern A, E and AE.

Biological and chemical reactions in living cells are dramatically reduced at low temperature, a phenomenon that can lead to the possible long-term preservation of cells and tissues. However, freezing is fatal to most living organisms, since both intra and extracellular ice crystals are formed and results in changes to the chemical setting of cells that lead to cellular mechanical constraints and injury. The major hurdle for cells to overcome at low temperatures is the water-to-ice phase transition. Cell injury at fast cooling rates is attributed to intracellular ice formation, whereas slow cooling causes osmotic changes due to the effects of exposure to highly concentrated intra and extracellular solutions or to mechanical interactions between cells and the extracellular ice. Cryopreservation is a process that maintains biological samples in a state of suspended animation at cryogenic temperature for any considerable period and is used to preserve the fine structure of cells (Jang et al., 2017).

Modern Semen Evaluation Methods

1. Fluorescent Microscopic Evaluation
2. In-vitro Fertility Test
3. Enzyme Estimation

1. Fluorescent Microscopic Evaluation

1.1. Acrosomal Integrity (Giemsa method and FITC-PSA assay)

The acrosomal integrity of the spermatozoa was detected using Fluorescence isothiocyanate – Pisum sativum agglutinin (FITC-PSA) staining procedure adopting method of Mendoza et al. (1992). Pisum sativum agglutinin (PSA) when conjugated to Lectin FITC marks the intact acrosome with bright green fluorescence. PSA is an agglutinin from edible pea that binds to glycoconjugates of acrosomal matrix or outer acrosomal membrane. It has affinity for terminal α –D-glucosyl and α-D-mannosyl residues of glycoproteins and it binds specifically to sugar α-mannoside found in acrosomal content.

The semen evaluation is of great importance in predicting fertility of the male. There are several parameters to evaluate the semen quality. Usually bucks with good semen samples have good fertility and bucks with poor or very poor semen samples are invariably infertile or sterile. A single test is never sufficient to assess the semen quality and the examiner should be acquainted with several tests to evaluate the semen. The semen should be examined with in a shortest possible period after ejaculation and the ejaculate must be properly protected and handled until examination. Semen can be evaluated by following methods

1. Macroscopic test
2. Microscopic test
3. Metabolic test

The following objectives are accomplished by semen dilution/ extension

• Preservation of semen potential over a long period of time.
• Increase in the number of services per ejaculate. Ideally approximately 40 does can be inseminated from diluted/ extended semen of a single ejaculate.
• Extenders provide the spermatozoa with a medium in which they are able to remain viable and fertile for a prolonged time period. An ideal extender should be able to provide a conducive environment to facilitate sperm survival and modify the sperm structure to prepare them for freezing through the following properties:
• It should be isotonic with blood and should maintain this during preservation.
• It should have capacity of maintenance of pH (6.6-6.8) with high buffering capacity in that range.