Efficacy of potassium permanganate and turmeric as antimicrobial agents on the bacterial load and quality of boar semen during preservation at 15 °C

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of different natural antimicrobials agents (KMnO4 and Turmeric) in comparison with conventional antibiotics against the bacterial load and in relation to the quality of boar semen in Modena extender for up to 120 hours of preservation at 15 °C. A total of 56 ejaculates, 14 from each of four Hampshire crossbred boars maintained within the ICAR-AICRP on Pigs, in Guwahati, Assam, India, were utilized in the study. Thirty-two ejaculates, 8 from each of four boars were used to study the effect of antimicrobial agents on semen quality during preservation at 15 °C in Modena extender. A total of 9 different bacterial types were identified from 46 bacterial isolates, obtained from 24 fresh semen samples viz. Staphylococcus aureus (24%), E. coli (22%), Bacillus spp. (13%), Citrobacter spp. (9%), Pseudomonas spp. (9%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (9%), Klebsiella spp. (6%), Streptococcus spp. (6%) and Proteus spp. (2%). The overall sensitivity of the recovered isolates to Gentamicin, Ampicillin, Enrofloxacin, Cloxacillin, Streptomycin, Penicillin, Amoxycilln, Ofloxacin and Tetracyclin were 89, 39, 37, 48, 74, 52, 56, 76 and 63% respectively. The mean sperm motility, intact acrosome, HOST-reacted spermatozoa and bacterial load differed significantly (P˂0.01) between antimicrobial agents (Gentamicin, KMnO4 and Turmeric) and preservation periods (0, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours). Sperm quality based on Gentamicin was found to be best, followed by Turmeric and KMnO4 during preservation at 15 °C. The conception rate for the semen preserved for 0, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours of preservation was 83.33, 80.00, 75.00, 66.66, 66.66 and 50.00% respectively. In the present study, the preserved semen with ascending bacterial load containing Gentamicin did not affect the conception rate.