Effects of adding mixed chicken and quail egg yolks to the cryodiluent on the quality of ram semen before and after cryopreservation

Abstract

The effects of adding mixed chicken and Japanese quail egg yolks (EYs) to the cryodiluent on the quality of ram semen before freezing and post-thawing were evaluated. Additionally, the composition of chicken and quail egg EYs and their mixture were analyzed for results explanation. The semen was collected from rams (n = 5) and extended with cryodiluent containing the EY of chicken, quail or their mixture (1:1). The extended semen was chilled slowly to 5 °C within 2 h and equilibrated for 2 h, before frozen on the liquid nitrogen vapor and cryopreserved at −196 °C. The straws were evaluated before freezing and post-thawing for sperm motility, vitality and abnormality besides plasma-membrane and DNA integrities. The moisture, ash, protein, and fatty acid (FA) contents of chicken EY, quail EY and their mixture were analyzed. Sperm vitality, plasma membrane integrity and DNA integrity before freezing were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in quail EY than chicken EY and mixed EYs cryodiluent. The chicken EY extender significantly improved the vitality, plasma membrane and DNA integrities of post-thawed ram semen in comparison with quail EY or mixed EYs extenders. While, the post-thawing sperm abnormalities was lower (P ≤ 0.05) in quail EY than chicken EY and mixed EYs cryodiluent. The post-thawing sperm motion kinetics parameters were higher in quail EY than chicken EY and mixed EYs cryodiluent. The highest percentages of moisture, ash, saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) were detected in quail EY had. While, the highest percentages of fat, protein and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were detected in chicken EY. In conclusion, using of chicken EY can improve total motility, vitality, plasma membrane integrity and DNA integrity of cryopreserved ram semen. While, using of quail EY can improve sperm abnormalities and kinetic motion parameters of cryopreserved ram semen. Mixing chicken and quail EYs added no value for post-thawing ram semen parameters.

Correlation between fatty acids levels in chicken, duck, goose, pigeon, quail and turkey egg yolks and post‐thawed quality of ram semen

“…Individual sperm velocity was measured using SCA® in three ways (linear, curved and straight‐line) and characterized as progressively motile (Path velocity ≥30 μm s −1 and straightness ≥70%), non‐progressively motile (Path velocity <30 μm s −1 and straightness <70%) or immotile (Swelum et al, 2022). The average pathway velocity (VAP) (the smoothed mean position of sperm cells), straight‐line velocity (VSL) (the shortest distance between the start and finish of a cell path) and curvilinear velocity (VCL) (The total distance travelled by a sperm cell, including each point along its journey, divided by the amount of time spent and expressed in micrometres per second) were determined.…”

“…Without fragmented DNA, the sperm cell produced large or medium (>0.3 of the minor diameter of the core) halos of scattered DNA. While sperm cells with fragmented DNA make small (<0.3 of the nominal diameter of the body), no or deteriorated halos of dispersed DNA, sperm with intact DNA have large halos of dispersed DNA (Swelum et al, 2022).…”

“…The FluoVit kit (Microptic S.L.) was used to evaluate sperm vitality (Swelum et al, 2022). Briefly, 10 μL of semen sample was mixed with 1 μL of Hoechst trihydrochloride trihydrate stain at 37°C and incubated for 5 min.…”

“…The semen samples were smeared on a glass slide, allowed to air dry and then placed vertically on a staining jar containing New Rapid SpermBlue® fixative/stain (Microptic S.L.) for 2 min (Swelum et al, 2022). The superfluous dye was drained off, and the slides were gently dipped in distilled water for approximately 3 s before being set at approximately 70° to dry in the air.…”

“…At least five distinct tiny fields were used to count 200 sperm cells. The proportions of sperms with intact plasma membranes (swollen and curled tails) were determined (Swelum et al, 2022).…”