Post-thaw quality of Malabari buck semen with different freezing resilience

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the difference in post-thaw quality parameters of Malabari buck spermatozoa of good and poor semen freezability. The ejaculates collected from Malabari bucks of good (n=3) and poor (n=3) semen freezability were pooled separately as group A and group B, respectively after the initial evaluation. The extended semen in each group was processed and cryopreserved by the conventional method of static vapour freezing. After thawing, the quality of semen in both groups was assessed in terms of progressive motility, viability, morphological abnormalities, acrosome integrity, functional membrane integrity and lipid peroxidation status (MDA) of spermatozoa. Results showed that there was no significant difference between the fresh semen characteristics of group A and B bucks except for concentration, progressive motility and functional membrane integrity of spermatozoa. But, post-thaw quality of groups A and B differed significantly in terms of progressive motility (48.89 ± 0.64 % vs 18.06 ± 1.08 %), viability (55.17 ± 0.57 % vs 26.33 ± 0.95 %), acrosome integrity (62.44 ± 0.62 % vs 33.42 ± 0.34 %), functional membrane integrity (47.00 ± 0.36 % vs 23.36 ± 0.63 %) and MDA concentration (7.83 ± 0.29 nmol/mL vs 13.95 ± 0.08 nmol/mL) whereas morphological abnormalities (2.11 ± 0.08 % vs 2.39 ± 0.09 %) did not differ significantly. The findings of the present study showed that even with similar fresh semen characteristics, spermatozoa from different Malabari bucks have varying degrees of cryosurvivability.