College of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry Department of Animal Science

BSc Animal Science – Year 2 Final Assessment Semester 1 - 2021

ANP601 - Physiology of Farm Animals

Total Marks: 100

Topic: Sperm Capacitation and Fertilization

Zygote is produced when the sperm cell fuse with the egg cell. Male and female
gametes are brought together to produce a diploid fertilized egg called zygote. The
embryonic development initiates. Oviduct is the place where fertilization take place.
After ovulation, the ova are viable for approximately 24 hours. The mechanism for
fertilization is to encounter of spermatozoa and ova, capacitation and contact, acrosome
reaction and penetration, fusion of sperm with the eggs and activation of ovum. Millions
of sperm travel from vagina to uterus and goes into the fallopian tube during the fertile
phase. Fertilization and delivery of sperm to eggs at the right time a fluid medium is a
primary need. Fertilization occurs in the body of the female. Thousands of sperm reach
the eggs but only one gets the chance to fertilize the egg. When sperm enters the eggs
it initiates series of chemical changes to occur to prevent the other sperms to enter the
eggs. Sperm capacitation is natural process that occurs in ejaculated sperm and is
required for fertilization of ovum. This occurs when ejaculated sperm comes in contact
with the female genital tract. A number of proteolytic enzymes are exposed or released
during the acrosome reaction. One or more of these enzymes is responsible for
digesting the hole through which the sperm enters the perivitelline space through the
zona pellucida. Male nucleus enters the cytoplasm of the egg and transforms into the
male pronucleus. The haploid male and female pronuclei move toward one another,
meet, and fuse to form zygote's diploid nucleus. As early as 12 hours after fertilization,
the two bundles of genetic material (two pronuclei), one from each parent, can be seen.
By 18-20 hours after fertilization, these pronuclei have fused, and what began as two
cells has become one (called a zygote). This topic links with other topics like
spermatogenesis, pregnancy and parturition as after spermatogenesis when a sperm

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matures and is ejected then the sperm goes under sperm capacitation in the females’
body and fertilization occurs.

Topic 2: Spermatogenesis

The spermatogenesis is one of the topic which is essential which involves how a sperm
develops. Spermatogenesis is a process where a sperm matures and becomes capable
to fertilize the ovum. The male testis is 450-500 seminiferous tubules per testis each
>0.5m. The total tubular length in testis is approximately 400m thus epididymis is 6m. It
occurs in seminiferous tubules and stored epididymis. The purpose is to preserve the
number of chromosomes in off springs. There are 5 stages of spermatogenesis are
spermatocytogenesis, where the stem cells divide to replace themselves and produce a
population of cells destined to become matured sperm. Spermatidogenesis, during
spermatogenesis, the formation of spermatids from secondary spermatocytes.
Spermiogenesis is metamorphosis of small, round spermatid cell into spermatozoon.
About 300 million sperm complete spermatogenesis each day, its function is to carry or
move the genetic information to the egg. A sperm is 60µm long as its head is 4-5µm
long which contains 23 chromosomes. Tail is further divided into 4 parts neck, middle
piece, principal piece and end piece. Sperm only survives 48 hours after ejaculation.
The link between reproductive hormones in animal’s sexual maturity in young bulls is
average 11 months during that time they have rapid physical n psychological changes
due to hormonal activity. Hypothalamus begins by secreting high pulses of GnRH at
initial of puberty, & pituitary gland releases the follicle stimulating hormone and
luteinizing hormone into male. The negative feedback system is that testosterone is
high when sperm count increases and it inhibits the release of GnRH, FSH, and LH as
well as the hormone inhibin produce by Sertoli cells. Hormones in spermatogenesis are
testosterone is for growth & division of germ cells, luteinizing hormone stimulate leydig
cells to secret testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone stimulates Sertoli cells and
estrogen probably essential for Spermiogenesis. Ejaculation is when the sperm is
discharged from penis during orgasm, when through force it is expelled by the body by
muscle contractions of sperm ducts. This topic is linked to other topics like fertilization

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and capacitation as sperm is needed in fertilization cause without it fertilization would
impossible. Thus, before fertilizing the egg it needs to go under spermatogenesis.

Topic 3: Pregnancy and Parturition

This topic shows the whole process of pregnancy and parturition. Pregnancy begins
with fertilization and a zygote is formed. Within 24hrs zona locks all other sperm and
sperm DNA and egg DNA combine and the cell divides. Day 5 about 100 cells arrive in
uterus, called the blastisist. Day 6, they break out of zona, suppresses mother’s immune
system in uterus and attaches to uterine wall and begin to form placenta; is for
exchange in gas, endocrine for estrogen and progesterone, chemical protection which
filters toxin and physical protection shock absorber. Week 2, a blastisist is the size of
poppy seed thus gastarlation begins and forms 3 layers of cells thus an embryo is
formed. In week 3, a neural tube is formed brain begins to form; blood vessels connect
and heart begins to beat and vertebrae begins to develop. Week 4, arm buds is formed
and the backbone curls into a tail about 0.5cm long. Week 6, retina and lens is
developed and ear begins to form about 0.6cm long. The growth of embryo from week
6-16 is about 12.6cm long. The milestones of the embryo in month 4 is where the hard
bone begins to develop. Month 5, fetus can hear sounds. Month 7, fetus begins to lay
down fats deposits under skin and in brain. Gestation is period of pregnancy. The
factors influencing fetal growth is genetic like species, breed, genotype; environment
like mother’s nutrition and fetal hormones like thyroid, insulin and growth hormone.
Parturition is the birth of the fetus which begins with the release of cortisol thus cervix
relaxes and dilate as oxytocin and estrogen is released to being labor and milk
production. Contractions push the fetus through the cervix and down the birth canal.
The difficulties associated with it is wrong presentation of fetus, the pelvic area is small,
or fetus is large, placenta did not break or mother do not come to milk. After parturition
is after birth where after the baby is born the uterus releases the placenta. Lactation is
when the mother feed the baby with milk she has made. Colostrum is the first milk for
the baby to drink as it contains lots of antibodies. This topic is linked to other topics such

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as estrus cycle & estrus after mating of the female animal during the estrus cycle comes
the fertilization and parturition and gestation period.

Topic 4: Digestive system of farm animals

This topic describes the 3 types of digestive system and shows the GIT of different
types of animals. There are 3 basic types of digestive system named as monogastric,
ruminants and hind gut fermenter. Monogastric organism has single chamber stomach
thus this type of stomach cannot digest large amount of fiber. The gastrovascular
intestinal tract compartments of pigs are mouth, stomach, esophagus, small intestine
and large intestine. There are accessory systems such as salivary gland which
produces saliva, liver which produces bile that breaks down fat and pancreas produces
insulin. The GIT compartments of chickens are crop, proventiculus, gizzard, small
intestine, ceca, cloaca. Ruminants are animals which have four chambered stomach.
Ruminants are mammals that can obtain nutrients from plant-based foods by fermenting
them in a specialized stomach before digestion. Bites and chews are done by the
mouth. Food pass through the esophagus. Stomach has four compartments: rumen,
reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. The rumen allows grazing animals to digest
cellulose, is a common carbohydrate found in plants. Rumen (Papillae lining) is the
largest of the four stomachs. Large amounts of roughage are converted to volatile fatty
acids by bacteria. Reticulum (Honeycomb lining) food bolus is formed here, this is
where regurgitation begins and assembles hardware (nails, wire). Omasum
(Laminae/multiple ply lining) pulverizes and squeezes. Abomasum is also known as
"True stomach" liquid is removed and has acids and enzymes which is this
compartment. Feed from the small intestine that has been partially digested is combined
and mixed with bile and pancreatic juice. Papillae or villi increases the surface tension
to absorb the nutrients. The large intestine is primarily to absorb water and add mucus
to undigested food. Hindgut fermentation is a digestive process that occurs in

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monogastric herbivores, or animals with a single-chambered stomach. Symbiotic
bacteria help in digestion of cellulose. Hindgut fermenters are typically coming with a
cecum and a large intestine. Hindgut fermenters typically have a much larger and more
complex cecum and also large intestine than foregut or midgut fermenters. This topic
links with the other topics like digestion because it relates and shows the process of
digestion in the types of stomachs in different animals.

Topic 5: Digestion

Because we have a digestive system, our bodies can absorb nutrients from the foods
we eat. When we eat food, our bodies use the digestive system to extract nutrients from
it. The main purpose is to digest the food into nutrients which can later be absorbed by
blood. Chewing is the mechanical breakdown of food whereas HCl in the stomach and
enzymes are the chemical breakdown of food for digestion. Prehension is action to
bring food to the mouth. Mastication (chewing) means to grind the food, increase
surface area, and enable enzymes to interact with molecules. There is no chewing in
birds because they lack teeth. Gizzard is a muscular organ that typically contains stones
or grit that act like teeth to grind food. Enzymes aid in breakdown of large molecules of
food. Mouth-amylase in human and pig saliva reduces starch to disaccharides and
dextrin. HCl in the stomach - creates an acidic environment. Pepsin - polypeptides and
proteins are broken down by pepsin. Duodenum cells secrete hormones that act on the
pancreas and gallbladder. The pancreas produces these pancreatic juices to digest
food, lipase is an enzyme that converts lipids to fatty acids and glycerides. Protein that
converts proteins into polypeptides is trypsin. Peptide that transforms amino acids and
peptides to amino acids and peptides is chymotrypsin. Enzyme that converts starch into
disaccharides and dextrin is amylase. In gallbladder, bile is released, produced in the
liver and alkaline to neutralize acidic stomach contents. Small intestine's walls have
glands that produce intestinal juice. This fluid has digestive enzymes. Peptidase
reduces proteoses and peptones. Sucrase, maltase, and lactase are enzymes that
break down starches and sugars. Rumination is characterized by constant regurgitation,
chewing, and swallowing. Eructation is removal of gases from the rumen. With

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continuous supply of nutrients, rumen is moist and warm. The acidic environment of
abomasum kills the microorganisms when washed out of omasum. Microorganisms
produce volatile fatty acids which are absorbed and converted to energy. Diffusion by
concentration is example of passive transport. Active transport take place when villi
engulf molecules and transport them to blood flow or lymphatic system. This topic links
with the digestive systems of animals as it shows the process of digestion and the
different types enzymes in different types of digestive systems involved digest the food
and extract the nutrients for the body.

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