Effect of Adding an Aqueous Extract of Aloe Vera (Aeav) to Tris Extender on some Characteristics of Goat Epididymal Spermatozoa at Different Cooling Times
Effect of Adding an Aqueous Extract of Aloe Vera (Aeav) to Tris Extender on some Characteristics of Goat Epididymal Spermatozoa at Different Cooling Times
Safaa Sabbar Atiyah1*, Ali Abdullah Zuairi Al-Sadoon2, Shifaa Kadhum Jieish2
ABSTRACT
Plant extracts have been used as alternative additives for the semen preservation process in different farm animal species to improve semen properties such as viability, motility, and membrane integrity, which thereby increase sperm fertility. The current study was conducted to investigate the effect of adding an aqueous extract of Aloe vera leaf gel (AEAV) to the epididymal spermatozoa of local goats during the cooling process for different periods. The AEAV was prepared and stored in the refrigerator until the time of use. Epididymal spermatozoa were diluted by a Tris extender and divided into three treatments: T1 with a Tris extender only (control group), T2: 0.02 AEAV, and T3: 0.03 AEAV. Epididymal sperm were cooled at 5 ºC for 0, 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours. The results show a significant effect (P≤0.01) of AEAV on sperm motility, abnormal sperm percentage, dead sperm percentage, and membrane integrity. The overall means were 51.11 %, 65.55 %, and 60.55%, for motility, 4.00 %, 4.33 %, and 1.5%, for abnormal sperm, 19.80 %, 17.64 %, and 19.33%, for dead sperm, and 74.25%, 78.63%, and 78.33%, for membrane integrity, respectively, for T1, T2, and T3. No significant differences were observed for dead sperm among 0.03 AEAV and the control group, abnormal sperm among 0.02 AEAV and the control, and also for HOST, between 0.02 and 0.03 AEAV. The best interaction between AEAV levels and cooling periods was reported for 0.03 of AEAV in fresh semen at 0 hrs. for all parameters of this study, except the HOST which did not differ at 0 hrs. of cooling among all AEAV levels. On the other hand, the results of the present study indicated significant differences (P≤0.01) for all six cooling periods (hrs.), except for abnormal sperm among 72, 96, and 120 hrs. post-cooling. It could be concluded that adding two levels (2% and 3%) of an aqueous extract of Aloe vera gel has improved some characteristics of goat epididymal sperm preserved under cooling conditions for different periods.
Keywords | Aloe vera, AEAV, Semen characteristics, Local buck, Cooling period
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