Soya milk based extenders for chilled prservation of Holstein bull semen at 5°C

Abstract EN

egg yolk (EY) based extenders have long been used for chilling and freezing bovine bull semen.

recently, several studies have shown that the use of EY involves hygienic risks and probable drawbacks on sperm integrity and subsequent fertility.

hence, several attempts were made to replace the traditional EY with some plant origin substitutes in the formulating bovine semen extenders.

in this study, semen was collected once weekly by artificial vagina from five sexually mature Holstein bulls for 12 weeks to compare and evaluate the effect of replacement of the conventional tris-egg yolk extender with different concentrations of soybean milk(4, 7, 10 and 13%).

the quality of chilled semen after dilution and storage at 5°c for 0, 24, 48 and 96 h was evaluated.

the results showed that the use of 7% soybean milk was the best compared to the other experimental concentrations.

in addition, the use of 7% soybean milk extender tended to maintain sperm motility, viability, plasma membrane and acrosome integrity for a longer period of time than that of the other extenders tested.

all soybean concentrations improved (p ≤ 0.05) sperm progressive motility; live sperm; acrosome and plasma membrane integrity at the different storage periods.

supplementing the extender with 13% soybean milk had adverse effects on the semen parameters during cool storage.

it could be concluded that the inclusion of soybean milk to Holstein bull semen extender as a substitute to EY at the rate of 7% is favorable for better sanitation and preservation at 5°c of that semen.