Comparative Efficacy of Soybean Milk and OptiXcell Extenders for Cryopreservation of Goat Semen

Semen quality is of paramount importance for the success of any artificial insemination program. The objective of this study was to compare the efficiency of OptiXcell® and Soy-bean milk (SBME) extenders for cryopreservation of semen from Boer and Malya bucks. Semen collection was performed using artificial vagina technique. 144 fresh ejaculates were visually assessed for volume, color and foreign bodies. Eosin-Nigrosin and Giemsa stain techniques used for assessments of sperm morphology and acrosome integrity. CASA used to assess for sperm motions from both fresh and frozen semen samples. Fresh semen assessment revealed breed differences in sperm viability, membrane integrity, curvilinear velocity, beat cross frequency, straightness index, and linearity. Whereas, semen volume, pH, concentration, progressive motility, morphology, acrosomal integrity, velocity straight line, velocity average pathway, and Amplitude of lateral head did not vary between bucks and breeds. Analysis revealed decrease in sperm kinetics after cryopreservation. Cryopreservation using both OptiXcell and SBME resulted into decline in sperm kinetic parameters. However, semen samples extended with OptiXcell had higher post-thawing values for progressive motility, normalcy, viability, velocity average pathway, velocity straight line, curvilinear velocity, amplitude of lateral head, beat cross frequency, straightness and linearity than semen diluted using SBME-Glycerol and SBME-DMSO. No significant difference (P > 0.05) was noted while comparing the effects of cryopreservation between buck breeds on sperm parameters while using OptiXcell and SBME. Although a remarkable decrease in sperm variables was noted after cryopreservation with the two extenders and cryoprotectants, OptiXcell showed superiority in cryopreserving buck semen compared with SBME