Spermatozoa Survival Rate in Stored Cock Semen Extended With Diluent Fortified With Natural Antioxidant Sources under Room Temperature

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with five treatments in triplicates. Four extenders were formulated: Lake Extender; Coconut water-Orange juice Extender (CWOE), Egg yolk-Tomato juice Extender (EYTE) and Milk based-Carrot Extender (MCE), were used to extend cock semen constituting treatments 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively, while the control (Treatment 1) was unextended semen. Semen was harvested from 8 proven Isa breeder cocks aged 35-40 weeks, pooled and evaluated. The ejaculate was divided into 5 and each part was extended with the extenders at ratio 1:2 (Semen: Extender). The extended and un-extended semen samples were kept under room temperatures (26.6 27.4°C) with relative humidity of 64.0-74.0% for in vitro assessment at 2 hrs interval until percentage motility was less than 60%. The results showed that the mass activity, sperm motility and percentage livability reduced p<0.05) as the time of storage increased. Mass activities of unextended semen and the one extended with coconut water-orange juice were significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of other treatments at 0 hour period of storage. Sperm motility in treatments 1 (95.0%), 3 (93.3%) and 4 (88.3%) was not significantly (p>0.05) different from one another, but they was significantly (p<0.05) higher than treatments 2 (40.0%) and 5 (71.7%). At 2 hours of storage, the mass activity and percentage sperm motility in treatment 2 were significantly (P<0.05) lower than other treatments, while live sperm cells were significantly lower for Treatment 3 than other treatments. At 4 hours of storage, mass activity and motility were zero in Treatment 2, while Treatment 1 recorded the highest values (66.7% and 93.5% respectively). Percent motility in Treatments 3, 4 and 5 were 55.0, 50.0 and 43.3%, respectively. However, percent live sperm cells were significantly (P<0.05) higher in treatments 2, 4, 5 and 1 than the in treatment 3. Both CWOE and EYTE possessed a good keeping quality for semen storage. The extenders fortified with natural antioxidants can be used for on-farm insemination in poultry within two hours of collection.