Abstract
The use of non-commercial and commercial extenders for cooling alpaca sperm has already been reported, the latter showing certain advantages over the first. The Andromed® (AM) extender was created for use in ruminants and has also been tested in ejaculated and epididymal alpaca sperm. According to the manufacturer, this extender does not need the addition of egg yolk (EY); however, it is known that the addition of EY to some extenders improves the preservation of cooled sperm. The objective of this study therefore was to compare a non-commercial extender (Tris) with the addition of EY vs. the commercial extender AM with and without the addition of EY, for cooling alpaca sperm obtained from diverted deferent ducts. Fifteen pools of deferent duct sperm were formed using samples from two or three different males for each. Each sperm pool was evaluated and then divided into three aliquots that were diluted to a final concentration of 30 × 106 sperm ml-1 (0 h) with either: (1) Tris with 20% EY (T-EY), (2) AM, or (3) AM with 20% EY (AM-EY). Samples were cooled to 5°C and the following sperm parameters were evaluated after 24 and 48 h of storage: motility, viability, membrane function, acrosome integrity, morphology, and chromatin condensation. Motility was also evaluated after 72 h of storage. The samples that best preserved progressive and total sperm motility at the 24 and 48 h evaluation periods were the ones diluted with AM-EY, observing that with this extender these motility patterns decreased significantly after 72 h of storage compared to time 0 h (p < 0.05). A significant decrease (p < 0.05) in total and progressive motility was observed at 48 h for the T-EY and AM extender compared to 0 h. AM was the only extender in which the percentages of viable sperm decreased significantly (p < 0.05) after 48 h of conservation. For the rest of sperm parameters evaluated, no significant differences were observed between any of the extenders at any evaluation time. The Andromed® extender with the addition of 20% EY could be an alternative option for cooling alpaca sperm obtained from deferent ducts.
Highlights
One of the most important reproductive biotechnologies for production is artificial insemination (AI) which, when compared to natural mating, maximizes the use of genetically superior males and achieves a rapid genetic progress
The samples that best preserved progressive and total sperm motility at 24 and 48 h evaluation times were the ones diluted with Andromed R (AM)-egg yolk (EY) (p > 0.05), observing that with this extender these motility patterns decreased significantly only after 72 h of storage compared to time 0 h (p < 0.05)
Whereas a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in total and progressive motility was observed at 48 h for the Tris with 20% EY (T-EY) and AM extender compared to time 0 h
Summary
One of the most important reproductive biotechnologies for production is artificial insemination (AI) which, when compared to natural mating, maximizes the use of genetically superior males and achieves a rapid genetic progress. In South American Camelids (SACs) this biotechnology is currently limited to use with diluted raw semen, with a maximum pregnancy rate of 77% in experimental centers and no higher than 50% in private establishments [1, 2] This methodology using raw semen presents some disadvantages such as inadequate laboratory environments for conditioning the samples and the need to transport the males to the site of insemination due to the very large distances between farms. Murillo et al [5] obtained slightly higher pregnancy rates (40–46.7%) when using alpaca semen obtained by post-mating aspiration from the female’s vagina and cooled with Andromed R and Triladyl R They only preserved the samples for 6 h
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