Document Type : Articles

Authors

• Abdulnaser Thanoon Mahmood Alkhashab ¹
• Wassem Khalid Ahmade ¹
• Khalid Hassani Sultan ¹
• Mohammad Najim Abdullah ²
• Viano Farag Aboudi ²

¹ Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Mosul, Iraq

² General Organization for Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Research Department, Ninava

Abstract

Sixty ejaculates of semen from 10 adult Awassi rams were collected biweekly at a rate of one ejaculate from each ram over a period of 3 months. Semen samples were collected from all rams, pooled and divided equally into four aliquots and diluted to 1: 2 Tris -citric acid-fructose egg yolk (TEYC) extender, the first aliquot is considered as control treatment consisting of extender without any addition , while  the second, third and fourth were supplemented with 5 % , 10 % , 15% pomegranate juice PJ to the extender samples, respectively. Semen samples were stored and cryopreserved at 5 ^°C for (0- 24- 48- 72- 96) hours after collection. Assessment of semen qualities (individual sperm motility, live and dead sperms, abnormal sperms and sperm membrane integrity (HOST) were measured on after dilution and during cryopreservation periods. The results demonstrated that adding PJ into extender showed a significant (p≤0.05) increase in the percentage of sperm motility, viability, sperm membrane integrity and a significant (p≤0.05) decrease in sperm abnormalities percentage compared to control at different hours of storage periods, and the advantage of the 4^th treatment supplemented with 15% pomegranate juice compared to other treatments.  In conclusion, from this study revealed that adding pomegranate juice to the extender is suitable and good for preserving spermatozoa and improving semen characteristics by enhancing antioxidants and protecting the spermatozoa  from reactive oxygen species  (ROS) during cryopreservation storage.

Keywords

• Pomegranate juice
• semen
• Tris extender