{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T06:12:25Z","timestamp":1790143945755,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"24","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]],"date-time":"2025-12-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765929600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100005825","name":"National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100005825","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000199","name":"1890 Capacity Building","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2022-09585"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022-09585"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000199","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Evans-Allen","award":["1025736"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1025736"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Parasitic infection is a major cause of infertility in small ruminants. This study aimed to assess the association between bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) measurements, testicular morphometrics, and sperm quality in parasitized goats. Thirty-eight intact mature Spanish bucks were allowed to graze on a naturally parasitically infected pasture for 3 months. Nineteen bucks were dewormed regularly (healthy group), while the other 19 bucks did not receive any anthelmintics (parasitized group). Fecal and blood samples were collected weekly to assess fecal egg count (FEC) and packed cell volume (PCV), respectively. Based on the size and morphology of the parasite eggs, they were presumptively identified as Haemonchus contortus. At the end of the grazing period, bucks were slaughtered, and testicles and epididymis were collected for analysis. In addition, BIA was applied to each testicle to measure series resistance (Rs) and reactance (Xc). Epididymal spermatozoa were retrieved and evaluated for motility, viability, morphology, and membrane and acrosome integrities. Data was analyzed using the Mann\u2013Whitney U and Pearson Correlation Coefficient tests. The results showed that Rs (169.41 \u00b1 1.76 \u2126 vs. 235.21 \u00b1 20.21 \u2126), Xc (37.55 \u00b1 0.48 \u2126 vs. 52.08 \u00b1 4.68 \u2126), testicular and epididymis weights and lengths, sperm motility, viability, and membrane and acrosome integrities were lower (p &lt; 0.0001) in parasitized than in healthy goats. Strong correlations (p &lt; 0.001) were observed between Rs, sperm viability (r = 0.20), membrane integrity (r = 0.15), and acrosome integrity (r = 0.14), as well as between Xc and the same sperm parameters (r = 0.21, 0.18, and 0.16, respectively). In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that parasitic infection is associated with testicular health and subsequent epididymal sperm quality of goats. BIA can be utilized as an efficient tool to predict the impact of parasitic infection on testicular function in goats.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani15243624","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]],"date-time":"2025-12-17T08:32:27Z","timestamp":1765960347000},"page":"3624","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Use of Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis to Measure the Impact of Parasitic Infection on Goat Sperm Quality"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5519-0743","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdallah M.","family":"Shahat","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"},{"name":"Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza 12211, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ranadheer","family":"Narlagiri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1427-4777","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aftab","family":"Siddique","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sai Chandan","family":"Chelkapally","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ramya Sri","family":"Kolikapongu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sharath Chandra","family":"Namani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Arshad","family":"Shaik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-7526-1692","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Phaneendra","family":"Batchu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Priyanka","family":"Gurrapu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tharun Tej","family":"Erukulla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ayesha","family":"Neha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9282-9243","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas H.","family":"Terrill","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4397-9688","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adel R.","family":"Moawad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Science Program, College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA 31030, USA"},{"name":"Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza 12211, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mazhangara, I.R., Chivandi, E., Mupangwa, J.F., and Muchenje, V. 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