Standardization of Fresh Cow Milk with Sodium Citrate Buffer for Cold Storage of Turkey Semen

Adedeji Balogun, Akintunde Akinosun, Idris Bello, Bankole Oluwemimo and Barakat Hammed

Background and Objective: The low fertility of diluted and preserve tom semen for short periods at cold temperatures have prompted the standardization of some potential extender agents used for the dilution and preservation of other farm animal species semen for liquid preservation of turkey semen. This study was designed to standardize fresh cow milk (FCM) for liquid preservation of tom semen. Materials and Methods: One litter of fresh cow milk was collected from the Fulani cattle kraal and heated for 5 min. The FCM extenders were prepared using different concentrations of FCM viz: 25, 50, 75 and 100%. Five toms were ejaculated individually and pooled. The pooled semen was divided into five portions making five treatments and extenders were added to it in a ratio of 1:3 (semen extender). The experimental design used was a Completely Randomized Design. Microscopic semen parameters such as motility and viability membrane integrity were examined and recorded for freshly extended semen preserved semen for 4, 24 and 48 hrs at 4-8°C. Results: The result showed that no significant difference (p>0.05) was observed in 0 hr. However, from 4 to 48 hrs of preservation, tom semen preserved with 25, 50 and 75% FCM were statistically similar (p>0.05) but, significantly different (p<0.05) in motility and membrane integrity from un-diluted semen and 100% FCM. However, 75% FCM has the highest motility values of 75.00, 60.00 and 36.67% and membrane integrity values of 60.67, 56.33 and 42.00% at 4, 24 and 48 hrs, respectively. At 0 and 24 hrs, tom semen preserved with 50% FCM extender has the highest non-significant percentage live sperm value of 89.67 and 80.00%, respectively compared to tom semen preserved in 25 and 75% FCM extender. While at 4 and 48 hrs, no significant difference was observed among the treatments. Conclusion: It was therefore concluded that 75% FCM supplemented with 25% sodium citrate buffer preserved tom semen for 48 hrs better than other combinations.

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