station of northwest of Iran Effects of season on semen characteristics of water buffalo in breeding station of northwest of Iran Ziba ABDİ 1Seyed Abbas RAFAT 2*, Djalil SHODJA 3 Farshid NAZARİ 1 Babak GHASEMİ PANAHİ 4 1Master science student-University Of Tabriz- Faculty Of Agriculture 2Associate Professor -University Of Tabriz- Faculty Of Agriculture 3Professor-University Of Tabriz- Faculty Of Agriculture 4Assistant Professor -University Of Tabriz- Faculty Of Agriculture * Corresponding Author rafata@tabrizu.ac.ir Abstract Reproductive traits is one of the most important economic traits in breeding of buffalo. Male animal plays an important role in the genetic improvement of these traits. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of season on some characteristics of buffalo sperm in Azerbaijan province of North West of Iran. For this purpose, characteristics were evaluated on n=20 male buffaloes. Sperm volume (cc), number of sperm, sperm viability after freezing (%), sperm concentration and total payette were statistically analyzed. Season involves many factors, including the length of the day, humidity, quality and quantity of feed composition which affect semen output. The results of the data collected during the years 2007-2011 showed a positive correlation between sperm count and volume level (P<0.001). Positive correlation was found between sperm count and viability after freezing. Also, the effect of season on sperm count, semen volume was significant (P<0.05). Age, year, season and breed have effect significantly on volume of semen and testicles characteristics. Based on the data obtained, it can conclude that the changes of the quality male production traits from genetic and environmental factors must be considered. Keyword: season, sperm the characteristics, Buffalo released by the FAO (2004), half a million are grown number in Iran ranks sixteenth in the number of buffalo in the world. The purpose of this study, the effects on sperm characteristics of buffalo breeding station northwest of the country. Materials and methods In order to study effect of non-genetic factors on reproduction traits (sperm volume (cc), the population of sperm, sperm viability after freezing (%), sperm concentration, total Payette) 192 of data from 20 buffaloes West Azerbaijan province over the years (2007-2011) were collected by the animal Breeding Center, was used. Data were analyzed by the GLM procedures of SAS in unbalanced design. Results Season include many factors such as day length, humidity, quality of feed and feed composition, that affect ejaculation. Ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count and sperm motility between different season. Average reproductive traits (semen volume, sperm concentration and sperm population), respectively, 36.152, 61.73, 69.3, respectively. Results of data collected during the years 1385-1390 showed a positive correlation (0.99) between sperm count and volume level (0.0001> p) there. Positive correlation was found between sperm count and viability after freezing. Season effects on sperm count and semen volume level with the level of 0.0001 and 0.0056 significant. Kousha and et al in 1955, the volume of semen in male Mora buffalo in the winter 2.9 and 3.7 ml were reported in the spring. Introduction In 2007, about 177 million in the world buffalo population been estimated that of more than 95 percent of which are grown in Asia. Breeding buffalo with 6/86 million tons of milk production (12.07) and about 32.3 million tons of meat and livestock is one part of most important (1). According to official statistics Reference 1.Naserian A. A. and Saremi B. 2007 Water buffalo industry in Iran. Italian Journal of Animal Sciences, 6: 1404-1405. 2.Zicarelli, L., 2004. Buffalo milk: its properties, dairy yield and mozzarella production.Veterinary Research Communications, 28, 127-135. 3.Amarjit, S. N., & Toshihiko, N. (2003). Role of buffalo in the socioeconomic development of rural Asia: Current status and future prospectus. Animal Sci. J., 74,44 4.Fundora, O., Gonzalez, M. E., Lezcano, O., Montejo, A., Pompa, N., & Enriquez, A. V. (2001). A comparative study of milk composition and stability of Murrah river buffaloes and Holstein cows grazing star grass. Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science,35,219–222. 5.Rosati, A., and Van Vleck, L.D. (2002). Estimation of genetic parameters for milk, fat, protein and mozzarella cheese production for the Italian river buffalo Bubalus bubalis population. Livestock Production Science, 74: 185–190. 6.Barbara Walther, B., A. Schmid., R. Sieber and K. W. Uller. 2008. Cheese in nutrition and health. J. Dairy Sci. Technol. 88: 389–405. 7.Rosatia, A., L.D. Van Vleck. 2002. Estimation of genetic parameters for milk, fat, protein and mozzarella cheese production for the Italian river buffalo Bubalus bubalis population. J. Livestock. Pro. Sci. 74: 185–190