The effect of feeding whole cottonseed on the fertility of bulls.

23 bulls were fed whole cotton seed (WCS) for 9 months, which resulted in the ingestion of 7.6 to 19.8 g free gossypol per head daily, or 20.4 to 50.8 mg per kg body weight daily. This level of free gossypol ingestion exceeded that of previous studies of a shorter duration in which gossypol was deemed to have affected bull fertility. There was no significant difference between treated and untreated bulls for total spermatozoal abnormalities, secondary spermatozoal abnormalities, scrotal circumference, scrotal circumference per kg body weight, percentage passing the Society for Theriogenology examination for breeding soundness, and mean breeding soundness examination score. There was a higher proportion of primary spermatozoal abnormalities in untreated than in WCS-fed bulls (P = 0.05). Of the bulls that were prepuberal at the onset of the trial (n = 9), the mean age of onset of puberty was not significantly different in the WCS group than in the untreated group, but it approached significance (P = 0.05). There was no significant difference in the scrotal circumference at the onset of puberty between the two groups. Analysis of the bulls' drinking water showed they could have ingested sufficient minerals in the water to bind with the free gossypol ingested, thereby detoxifying it. This may also explain why the results of previous trials have been so variable