Impact of the Spirulina maxima extract addition to semen extender on bovine sperm quality

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to investigate an effect of various concentrations of Spirulina maxima extract (SME) in BIOXcell® extender on Simmental bulls spermatozoa quality. Semen was collected from 20 healthy bulls using an artificial vagina. Semen was evaluated in terms of concentration, motility, viability and morphology. Samples that showed more than 70% motility, 60% viability and 70% morphologically accepted spermatozoa were selected for the experiment. SME at the concentrations of 2, 4, 6 and 8 µg/mL was added to bovine commercial BIOXcell® extender. The semen aliquots were cooled and preserved at 4 °C. Their qualities were evaluated during pre-freezing, then the cooled semen samples were packaged into 0.25 ml straws. The straws were frozen in the vapour of liquid nitrogen, and stored at −196 °C in container. The straws were thawed one day later and the characteristics of spermatozoa were examined. Results showed significant effect of SME on characteristics such as viability, Reactive Oxygen Species synthesis, DNA fragmentation and motility of spermatozoa in post freezing conditions (p < 0.05) and revealed that supplementation of SME extender improved the post-thaw spermatozoa quality in bulls.HighlightsSpirulina maxima extract has antioxidant effect on bovine sperm cellsThe addition of Spirulina maxima extract improves the quality of bovine semenThe extender supplemented with 4 µg/mL Spirulina maxima extract improves the motility, viability and DNA integrity of the bovine spermatozoa