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Motility and fertilizing
capacity of boar semen stored in raffia palm (Raffia
hookeri) sap extender at 15°C
S. O. C. Ugwu* and G.
Igboeli
Department
of Animal Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
simqueugwu3@yahoo.com.
Accepted
24 February, 2009 |
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Two separate experiments were conducted to test the ability
of new semen extenders containing various levels of tropical
raffia palm sap in sustaining the motility and fertilizing
capacity of boar spermatozoa during storage at 15°C. Highly
significant variations (P < 0.01) occurred in the ability of
extenders to sustain progressive motility from days 1 to 4
of storage. One of the new extenders, raffia palm extender 2
(RPE–2) was superior to other trial extenders including the
control (coconut milk extender, CME) in sustaining
progressive motility of boar sperm from 24 - 72 h of
storage; average motility scores at 24 and 72 h were 73.0
and 50.0% for RPE-2, 65.0 and 41.0% for CME (control), 55.0
and 36.0% for RPE-1 and 45.0 and 6.5% for RPE-0. Sperm tail
vibratory movement was observed in sperm stored in RPE-1 and
RPE-0 from day 2 of storage. Sperm in RPE-0 and RPE-1 lost
motility completely at 96 h while motility of sperm in RPE-2
showed a sharp drop in motility values from 72 – 96 h
relative to control. Average conception rates in 24 gilts
inseminated per treatment with semen stored for 24, 48 and
72 h respectively were 83.3, 66.6 and 16.6% for RPE-2, 50,
16.6 and 0.0 percent for RPE-1, 16.6, 0.0 and 0.0% for RPE-0
and 75.0, 50.0 and 26.6% for CME (control). Average number
of piglets born using semen stored for 24, 48 and 72 h
respectively were 8.0, 8.0 and 6.5 for RPE-2 and 8.2, 8.2
and 6.0 for the control. RPE-2 supported better fetal
survival rate than other trial extenders and control. Highly
significant variations (P < 0.01) occurred among extenders
in conception rate and number of piglets born. These results
portray RPE-2 as a reliable short-term liquid semen storage
medium for swine artificial insemination in the humid
tropics.
Key
words:
Motility, fertilising capacity, boar semen, raffia palm,
extender. |
