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Liveability of Buck Spermatozoa after Cold Storage Using Egg Yolk Citrate Extender
Preservation and extension of West African Dwarf (WAD) buck semen has been a challenge, because AI centres are far from farms where they are needed. This study was carried out to investigate the liveability of buck spermatozoa extended with egg yolk citrate of West African dwarf goat buck spermatozoa. Twenty (20) matured bucks were used for this experiment. Semen from these bucks was collected by means of artificial vagina after which evaluation was done. Buffer and extender were prepared using egg Yolk Citrate to preserve the semen and it was stored at 5oC in a refrigerator. Data were collected for five days at 0hour, 24hours, 48 hours, 72hours and 96 hours on sperm concentration, percentage liveability, percentage dead, intact, damage, missing acrosome and sperm morphology. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for social Sciences (SPSS). Results show that the percentage sperm liveability at 0hours, 24hours, 48hours, 72hours, and 96hours were 57.50, 56.30, 54.03, 51.27, 47.00 respectively indicating a decrease with time. However, the percentage sperm dead increased with time: 42.50, 43.68, 45.97, 48.73, and 50.92% for 0, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours respectively. The sperm motility (percentage) also reduced as the length of storage increased. The morphological characteristics of the spermatozoa also decreased with increase in the length of storage. It was concluded that liveability of sperm reduced as the storage time increased in West African Dwarf buck even with egg yolk citrate extender.
Keywords: Egg yolk Citrate, Liveability, goat buck