Determination of the Spermatological Properties at First Spawning Season of the Young Male Rainbow Trouts (Oncorhynchus mykiss W., 1792) reared in Floating Cages in Ataturk Dam Lake, Sanliurfa, Turkey

In the spawning season, semen was collected by abdominal massage from 11 young male rainbow trout from the late of January to the late of February. In collected milts; colour, volume, motility, motility duration, concentration and pH were determined. Futhermore, body weight and total length were measured and correlations between spermatological characteristics and these parameters were investigated. In the young rainbow trouts` semen, milt volume (ml), motility (%), motility duration (s), concentration (x 109 /ml), total spermatozoa (per ejeculate) and pH values were found 1.59, 82.2, 93.0, 7.9, 12.3 and 8.3, respectively. It was found that there were positive correlations between body weigth and total length, milt volume and total spermatozoa, spermatozoa motility and motility duration (P<0.05). In contrast, there were negative correlations between milt volume and spermatozoa motility, milt volume and motility duration, pH value and total spermatozoa (P<0.05). These results suggested that young male rainbow trouts could be used for breeding, in spawning season, considering their spermatological properties but not their total weight and total length.