Meloxicam and levamisole administration ameliorates FMD vaccination stress on frozen semen attributes in Sahiwal bulls

Vaccination-induced allergic reactions in bulls raise both body and testicular temperatures, leading to germ cell damage, epididymal dysfunction, accelerated testicular ageing, and increased sperm abnormalities that ultimately degrade semen quality. This study aimed to ameliorate vaccination stress and improve semen quality using meloxicam and levamisole. The present study was conducted at the Artificial Breeding Research Centre, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal, Haryana, with twelve Sahiwal breeding bulls that were divided into four groups: Group I (Control), Group II (Meloxicam), Group III (Levamisole), and Group IV (Meloxicam + Levamisole). Semen parameters were evaluated during pre- and post-vaccination. Treated groups showed significant improvement (p < 0.05) in initial progressive motility, live sperm, HOST, and acrosome integrity compared to the control, with the highest improvement observed in the combination group (meloxicam + levamisole). Sperm abnormalities, moribund, dead, apoptotic sperm, and lipid peroxidation were significantly higher in the control group. The meloxicam + levamisole group exhibited significantly lower (p < 0.05) sperm abnormalities and lipid peroxidation. Improvement was observed in semen quality with treatment (Meloxicam + levamisole-treated bulls) in percentage of live (+ 53.11%), moribund (- 33.83%), dead (- 36.70%), apoptotic spermatozoa (- 44.01%), and DNA fragmentation index (- 47.07%) in relation to the control groups on the 7th post vaccination day.