BREEDING, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY (ORAL) SURVIVABILITY OF COCK SEMEN STORED UNDER ROOM TEMPERATURE IN EXTENDERS CONTAINING SOME ANTIOXIDANTS A

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the survivability of cock sperm stored under room temperature in extenders containing some antioxidants. A volume of 2ml of pooled semen collected from four mature Heavy Ecotype cocks was stored in Honey-Ringers solution and three other extenders containing Honey-Ringers solution supplemented with the antioxidant vitamins C and E. The semen samples were observed under a microscope at 0, 6 and 12 hours to determine sperm motility by scoring. Survivability of the sperm cells was taken as the average percentage number of motile spermatozoa in each extender recorded during 0, 6 and 12 hours storage duration. The experimental layout was a completely randomized design. The generated were analysed using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS. The result showed that Average sperm survivability was significantly (P<0.05) higher for semen stored in supplemented with the antioxidant vitamins C and E compared to semen stored in Ringers solution. The proportion of spermatozoa that survived within the 6 hour storage time was highest in the Vit E supplemented extender followed by the Vit C group and lowest in the control group. From the results, it was concluded that extenders supplemented with the antioxidant preserved semen motility and viability.