Abstract
Male infertility in dromedary camels lacks objective diagnostic tools. This study evaluated the combined diagnostic value of testicular Doppler ultrasonography and semen biomarkers in 68 infertile (azoospermic, n = 21; oligozoospemic, n = 47) and 9 fertile male camels. All animals underwent a breeding soundness evaluation; computer-assisted semen analysis; color Doppler of the supratesticular artery; and a seminal plasma assessment for semenogelin I (SEM I), semenogelin II (SEM II), extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1), and testis-expressed protein 101 (TEX101). Infertile camels showed significantly impaired semen quality (p < 0.001). All four biomarkers were significantly lower in the infertile groups than controls (p = 0.001). Doppler indices indicated impaired testicular perfusion, with higher resistive and pulsatility indices (p = 0.003; p = 0.009) and lower velocity parameters (p < 0.001) in infertile animals. Biomarkers were strongly intercorrelated and negatively correlated with Doppler indices. ECM1 was the only significant predictor of infertility from the regression analysis (p = 0.031). Among the oligozoospemic camels stratified by motility, the >50% motility group had significantly higher SEM I and SEM II concentrations (p < 0.002). Integrating Doppler ultrasonography with biomarker profiling provides complementary diagnostic indicators for male camel infertility.