Pilot study for evaluating a practical method of diluting goat epididymal semen with seminal plasma

The untimely death of a sire often leads to the need for a postmortem semen collection for advanced reproductive techniques. Even with careful attention to detail, postmortem semen inherently has low motility.1 Postmortem semen is collected from the epididymis and is void of seminal plasma, which is responsible for nurturing sperm and aiding in motility and maturation. However, sperm are not mixed with seminal plasma from the accessory sex glands until ejaculation. This study describes a practical method of adding seminal plasma to epididymal semen to improve semen motility. Kiko goats were anesthetized and fresh semen was collected via electroejaculation. Goats were then surgically castrated and semen was collected from the epididymis to mimic a postmortem semen collection. Seminal plasma supernatant from the fresh collections was used to dilute the epididymal semen; it increased sperm velocity and amplitude of lateral head movement.