EFFECT OF DILUENT SUPPLEMENTATION WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF GREENTEA ON ROOSTERS' SEMEN QUALITY DURING IN VITRO STORAGE

This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of supplementation roosters' semen diluent with green tea infusion on semen quality during in vitro storage for up to 72 h. Sixty males (White Layers, 24 wk of age) divided in six groups of 10 cocks were used for experimentation. Semen samples were collected twice a week from all roosters during the whole period of experiment (12 weeks). Treatment groups were as follows: T1 : fresh semen (control group), T2 : semen diluted 1:2 with Lake diluent (LD) alone, and T3 – T6 : semen samples diluted 1:2 with LD supplemented with 6, 8, 10 or 12 ml of green tea infusion / 100 ml of diluent, respectively. Results indicated that the inclusion of green tea infusion in LD diluent resulted in a significant decrease (p 0.05) between T3, T4 and T6 groups concerning all semen characteristics involved in this study. However, T5 group (10 ml green tea / 100 ml of diluent) recorded the lowest values of percentages of dead and abnormal spermatozoa and acrosomal abnormalities and highest values of mass activity and individual motility as compared with other treatments of green tea (T3, T4 and T6). In conclusion, the addition of green tea infusion into semen diluent could be used successfully for suppress the detrimental effects of lipid peroxidation that naturally occurred during in vitro storage of avian semen.