Standardization of Egg-Yolk with Three Different Buffers for Optimizing Turkey Semen Cold Storage at 4°C

Adedeji Balogun, Akintunde Akinosun, Tawheed Shafi, Sunday Fatola Olabamiji, Raheemoh Abdulhamid and Adiat Adebayo

Background and Objective: Identifying a suitable salt for preparing a buffer to formulate an egg-yolk extender for turkey semen dilution and preservation may be a good approach to improving fertility in turkey species. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the buffering potentials of three common salts (tris, sodium citrate and sodium phosphate) for dilution and preservation of tom semen. Materials and Methods: Three buffers were prepared and added to the egg yolk in the same proportion. Semen was ejaculated from five toms, pooled and divided into four and diluted at the ratio of 1:4 (semen to extender). Samples were evaluated for motility, viability and membrane integrity immediately after dilution and semen was stored for the period of 4, 24 and 48 hrs at 4-8°C. Results: The pH result revealed that the tris egg-yolk extender (TEY) has the highest pH of 7.3. It was observed that the percentage of sperm motility showed no significant difference (p<0.05) across the treatments at 0 hr. From 4 to 48 hrs of preservation, (TEY) and sodium citrate egg-yolk (SCEY) were statistically similar and had a significant (p>0.05) higher percentage of motile sperm compared to un-extended semen and sodium phosphate egg-yolk (SPEY). Viability values recorded for tom semen diluted with egg-yolk extender containing different buffers showed no significant (p<0.05) difference from 0 to 48 hrs. Membrane integrity also showed no significant difference (p<0.05) at 0 hr. However, from 4 to 48 hrs of preservation, TEY and SCEY extender were statistically similar but significantly higher (p>0.05) to undiluted semen and SPEY. Conclusion: Tris and sodium citrate buffer exhibited good buffering capability for the formulation of egg-yolk extender for turkey semen dilution and preservation.

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