Effect of glycine on storage of ram semen

Abstract

Artificial insemination is assuming great importance in the planning of livestock improvement in different countries. It has been estimated that 30 % of the total cows in Great Britain are inseminated artificially and in Denmark the number is as high as 80 %. Although sheep also play a very important role in the livestock economy of some countries, not much attention seems to have been paid to the artificial breeding of ewes. Russia is perhaps the only country where artificial breeding of sheep is done on a mass scale, and only some sporadic artificial breeding of sheep has been done in a few other countries.The preservation and storage of semen between the time of collection and the time of insemination has been in the past, and still remains at present, one of the major problems in artificial insemination. Numerous investigators have tried to prolong the storage period. Bovine semen is usually stored at 4° C. in media composed of either phosphate buffer (pH 7-4) or citrate buffer (pH 6-8) and egg yolk. The same media are used for the storage of ram semen. The motility and fertilizing capacity of bull spermatozoa in these media decline rapidly so that in practice samples are not used for insemination more than 3 days after collection. Since the concentration of egg yolk can be varied within wide limits without affecting survival, attempts have been made to improve the buffer solution. Kempschmidt, Mayer, Herman & Dickerson (1951) obtained increased survival of bull spermatozoa on storage by reducing the electrolyte concentration of the diluting medium. They found that sugar solutions, especially solutions of metabolizable sugars, were most satisfactory for replacing part of the buffer. Recently, Bishop & Salisbury (1954) have shown that phosphate and citrate buffers have certain deleterious effects on bovine spermatozoa. Investigations carried out by Roy & Bishop (1954) have further shown that replacement of the citrate or phosphate buffers by 3 % glycine markedly improved the survival time of spermatozoa. The present paper reports some observations made on the effect of these diluents on the survival of ram spermatozoa after storage at 4° C. METHODS AND MATERIALThe experiments were carried out during the months of June to August. Two rams out of the flock at the Animal Research Station were selected for the collection of semen, which was made with the artificial vagina by the method described by Walton (1945). Precautions were taken to avoid temperature shock, and after ejaculation the semen was taken in the vacuum collecting flask to the laboratory situated at a distance of about 30-40 yards from the collection site. For the most part, storage trials were done on single ejaculates, but if the volume was inadequate two ejaculates from the same ram were pooled.Motility scores with arbitrary grading on a 5-point scale were used; the highest motility scored 5 and no motility scored 0. Equal volumes of citrate buffer (2-9 % sodium citrate in H 2 O) and egg yolk served as the control diluent. Trial diluents were mad...

Sheep production /

“…If it is not, it should be adjusted by the addition of sterile M/15 citrate buffer or bicarbonate can be used to replace the phosphate buffer without effect on the glycolysis (Moore, 1949). The replacement of the citrate buffer with glycine has improved the survival time of ram semen (Ahmed, 1955;Roy et al, 1956 andSkolosvkaya et al, 1956). Milk appears to be the most useful dilutor for ram semen (Istvan, 1956;Foilmom et al, 1956;Macpherson, 1957 andHill et al, 1958).…”

Experimental influence upon the distribution of the sexes in mammals by separation of male and female determining spermatozoa

“…While in combination with a balanced solution of salts it has a noxious effect on bull sperm already in a concentration of 0.13 M. (54), its action in combination with skim milk or yolk of egg is favourable to the lenght of life in witro in concentrations of 0.25-0.30 M. (Cf., e. g., 1,51,8,6,2,44). It is obvious that the components (macromolecules?)…”

Preservation of goat semen at 5°C with emphasis on its freezability and the impact of melatonin

“…On the other hand, the replacement of citrate buffer with glycine was reported to improve the survival of ram spermatozoa. Also, El-Chahidi [7][8][9], elaborated that the use of different combinations of electrolytes mixture and glycine improved the motility and viability of ram spermatozoa for long time.…”