37 DOUBLE FREEZING AND THAWING OF NGUNI BULL SEMEN

Abstract

Indigenous bulls semen are important for conservation programs. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of repeated freezing and thawing on sperm motility characteristics. Semen was collected from 4 Nguni bulls by means of electro ejaculator and stored in a thermo flask (37°C). Sperm total motility, progressive and nonprogressive motility, and velocity were assessed using computer-aided sperm analysis before and after freezing. Semen was then diluted with egg yolk citrate extender (fraction A), then followed by 12% of glycerol + egg yolk citrate extender (fraction B, Seshoka et al. 2012). Diluted semen samples were equilibrated for 4 h at 5°C. After the equilibration period, samples were loaded into 0.25-mL straws and transferred into a controlled rate programmable freezer. After the target temperature of –130°C was reached, semen straws were stored in a LN tank (–196°C). After 3 months of storage, straws were thawed at 15°C (first and second freezing and thawing followed the same process) for 5 min and further evaluated post-thawed at 0 and 15 min during incubation at 15°C. Treatment means were separated using Fisher’s protected t-test least. No significant differences were recorded between the raw semen total sperm motility percentage (93.2%) and first frozen-thawed at 0 min (82.6%), with the total sperm motility rate recovery of 88.6%. In addition, there was a marked decline recorded in sperm total motility during the first frozen-thawed at 15 min (77.6%), second frozen-thawed at 0 min (31.3%), and second frozen-thawed at 15 min (30.1%; P < 0.05). The sperm curvilinear velocity and average path velocity was reduced following first frozen-thawed (P < 0.05) but remained constant and stable between the treatment groups (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the freezing-thawing process did not reduce the Nguni bull total sperm motility during the first freezing and thawing process, compared with raw semen. However, a drastic decline was recorded during the second freezing-thawing processes, compared with raw semen.