Effects of different concentrations of sucrose or trehalose on the post-thawing quality of cattle bull semen

Objective: To examine the effect of different concentrations of trehalose or sucrose (50 or 100 or 200 mM) on post-thawed quality of bull semen, cryo-preserved in Tris-citric acid-egg yolk-fructose (TCYF). Methods: Semen samples were diluted in TCYF extender, TCYF + trehalose (50, 100 and 150 mM/L) or TCYF + sucrose (50, 100 and 150 mM/L) to ensure 60 million motile spermatozoa mL-1, cooled slowly up to 5 °C and equilibrated for 4 h. Semen was packed into 0.25 mL polyvinyl French straws. The straws were placed horizontally on a rack and frozen in a vapor 4 cm above liquid nitrogen (LN2) for 10 minutes then dipped in liquid LN2. Frozen straws were thawed at 37 °C for 1 min. The parameters studied were sperm motility, sperm viability, sperm abnormality, sperm membrane integrity (HOST), percent of normal intact acrosome and DNA fragmentation. Results: The output data demonstrated that addition of 50–100 mM of trehalose or sucrose/L TCYF after chilling at 5 °C had significantly (P<0.0001) ameliorated motility, membrane integrity, viability, abnormal morphology, and acrosome integrity % compared to control diluted semen while 50 mM of trehalose/L, and 50–100 mM of sucrose/L to TCYF diluent had significantly (P<0.0001) improved after thawing motility (43.00,% 45.00% and 41.00%, respectively), membrane integrity (67.40%, 67.80% and 69.40%, respectively), life sperm % (70.20%, 69.40% and 71.40% respectively), and acrosome integrity percentages (56.40%, 58.80% and 55.80% respectively) compared to the control tris-base diluent, while diminishing the abnormal sperm morphology (6.20, 3.80 and 3.80 respectively) and DNA fragmentation (3.60%, 3.80% and 3.80% respectively). Besides, the addition of 100 mM of trehalose/L to tris-base diluent has also a promising effect when added to the tris-base diluent concerning the above parameters. Conclusion: It is finally concluded that the addition of 50–100 mM trehalose or sucrose/L to TCYF have a beneficial effect in chilling diluted bull semen, while the use of 50 mM trehalose or 50–100 mM sucrose had their benefits on freezing-thawing of extended semen

Effects of pomegranate juice in Tris-based extender on cattle semen quality after chilling and cryopreservation

Objective: To study the effect of adding different concentrations of the pomegranate juice (PJ) to the cattle bull semen extender on post-thawing semen quality. Methods: Semen was collected from five cattle-bulls at weekly intervals for 5 weeks at the Semen Freezing Center, General Organization for Vet. Services, Ministry of Agriculture. Semen samples were diluted in Tris-citric acid-egg yolk-fructose extender and divided into six aliquots, the 1st served as control while PJ was supplemented at 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% in the aliquot 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Diluted semen samples were subjected to cooling and cryopreservation and stored in liquid nitrogen (LN2). Sperm motility in chilled semen (over 10 d) and post-thawing sperm parameters, including individual motility, alive sperm, membrane integrity, and total sperm abnormality were assessed. Results: Obtained results clearly demonstrated that the addition of 10% PJ in the chilled extended cattle semen proved to be beneficial for maintaining sperm motility percentage. On the other hand, the addition of 40% and 50% PJ failed to preserve motility all over the 10 d. Also, supplementation of extender with 10–20% PJ significantly increases the post-thaw motility and viability as compared with control group. Conclusions: Supplementation of bull semen extender with 10% and 20% PJ provides good chilling and improved frozen-thawed semen quality

Effect of water extract of dates palm (Phoenix dactylifera) on semen characteristics and oxidative status in serum of male New Zealand rabbits under heat stress

Objective: To estimate the effects of the water extract of dates palm (Phoenix dactylifera) (DWE) on sperm quality parameters, testosterone level and serum antioxidants activities of New Zealand rabbits under heat stress.Methods: A total of 30 bucks of New Zealand White rabbits were randomly divided into three equal groups as follows: Group 1 was treated as control group and fed on balanced commercial ration. Groups 2 and 3 were treated with 10 and 20 mL of dates extract substituting water in the early morning before watering and fed on balanced commercial ration. This schedule was performed daily for 5 days/week, for an experimental period of 5 weeks. Fertility parameters such as reaction time, potential of hydrogen ion (pH), mass motility, individual progressive motility %, percentage of live sperm and abnormal sperm (%) were measured. Blood serum testosterone level, serum glutathione reduced, nitric oxide, ascorbic acid and malondialdehyde were also determined.Results: The daily oral administration of 10 mL DWE significantly increased the pH, the mass motility and individual progressive motility % compared to the control group. Although, the consumption of 20 mL DWE significantly (P<0.000 1) increased the live sperm% and decreased the abnormal sperm % compared to the other two treatments. The administration of date extracts (10 and 20 mL) had significantly (P<0.000 1) decreased nitric oxide and glutathione reduced levels compared to the control. On the other hand, it increased significantly the lipid peroxidation, ascorbic acid and testosterone level compared to the control.Conclusions: The aqueous extract of date palm (10-20 mL) could enhance the rabbit bucks fertility and its health performance

Chilled and post-thawed semen characteristics of buffalo semen diluted in tris extender enriched with date palm pollen grains (TPG)

Objective: The benefits of dates palm and their pollen grains in the human nourishment system have their consideration and importance in medical and nutritional point of view. The present study aimed to investigate a new perspective for the use of date palm pollen grains (DPPG) aqueous extract or infusion in preservation of chilled and frozen buffalo semen. Methods: Pooled buffalo semen were diluted by Tris-Citrate-Fructose egg yolk (TCFY) diluent (considered as control) and diverse concentrations of clarified soaked pollen grains in Tris-Citrate-Fructose (TCF) diluent in concentrations of 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 mg DPPG/5 mL TCF. Five concentrations were kept without egg yolk (TPG) while other five concentrations contained 20% egg yolk (TPGY). Each of the two dilutions was enumerated according to the concentration of DPPG. Extended semen is then chilled (for 7 d) and cryopreserved. Motility, alive sperm and intact sperm membrane (HOST) % were recorded as characteristic sperm parameters. Results: After 7 d of chilling, significant (P < 0.0001) high percent of motile sperms was recorded for TPG 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 (66.67, 65.00, 61.67, 61.67 and 63.33, respectively). After freeze thawing, TPGY 150 and 250 showed the significant (P < 0.0001) high percent of motile sperms (43.75 and 45.00, respectively) while TPGY 100, 200, 250 and TPG 50, 150 revealed the high results concerning HOST (80.61, 83.99, 80.61, 88.33 and 83.33, respectively) whereas the highest alive sperm percentage was recorded with TPGY 150 (96.30) compared to the control. Conclusions: The aqueous cold infusion or extract of the DPPG, added to the TCF extender with or without the addition of egg yolk, proved its good preserving and maintaining capacity of chilled and thawed buffalo bull sperms which was expressed mainly by the sperm motility