Viability of caprine spermatozoa in sodium citrate-egg yolk extender at room temperature

Abstract

This work was aimed at evaluating the ability of sodium citrate-egg yolk extender to sustain the viability of spermatozoa in semen stored at room temperature over a period of time as well as determining the best dilution ratio for on-farm artificial insemination. Seven matured West African dwarf bucks were used for this study; semen was collected once weekly with electro ejaculator, maintained at 37 C in the water bath during extension and was evaluated immediately after extension at room temperature until motility dropped below 20%. The semen collected were pooled and divided into 5 portions. Each portion was extended with sodium citrate-egg yolk extender at 1:0 (without extender, control) as T1, (1:1) T2, (1:2) T3, (1:3) T4 and the 5th portion was extended with normal saline at 1:1 (T5) which served as the negative control. Sperm motility, spermatozoa concentration, livability, acrosome integrity and morphological abnormalities were assessed and data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance. Results showed that spermatozoa motility in treatments 1, 2, and 5 differed significantly (P