Initial evaluation of the motility and viability of African catfish Clarias gariepinus spermatozoa cryopreserved using glutathione

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the optimum concentration of the glutathione in cryopreservation of African catfish Clarias gariepinus spermatozoa. The study was conducted at the Ujung Batee Brackish Aquaculture Center (BPBAP), Aceh Besar, Indonesia. Five concentrations of glutathione were tested in this study using the completely randomized design. These concentrations of glutathione were 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mgL−1. Every treatment was performed with four replications. The results showed that the glutathione gave the significant effect on the sperm motility (P < 0.05), but did not give the significant effect on the sperm viability (P > 0.05). The average percentage of sperm motility after thawing was P0 (39.25%), P1 (28.50%), P2 (39.25%), P3 (34.00%) and P4 (40.50%), while the average percentage of sperm viability was P0 (84.37%), P1 (81.00%), P2 (91.62%), P3 (81.87%) and P4 (92.00%). The highest value of motility and viability were recorded in the in treatment P4 (2.0 mgL−1 glutathione). However, these values were not different significantly with concentration of 1.0 mgL−1. Therefore, it is concluded that the optimum concentration of the glutathione for the best sperm motility and viability is 1.0 mgL−1