EFFECT OF EXTENDERS ON THE CHARACTERISTIC AND FERTILITY OF COOLD BUFFALO SEMEN

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of semen extenders onthe characteristics of cooled buffalo semen and to determine the suitable extender which will give higher conception rate. Semen was collected from five buffalo (5-6 years) bulls twice weekly using artificial vagina. Freshly collected semen samples were evaluated and ejaculates of at least 70% individual motility and 6x106 sperm /ml were pooled, divided into three parts, diluted with tris egg yolk, citrate egg yolk or skimmed milk extender and cooled slowly to 5oC. Semen samples were evaluated for individual motility, alive sperm, plasma and acrosomal membranes integrity as well as viability index. Conception rates of buffalo cows artificially inseminated with cooled buffalo semen were also estimated. The results of the present study revealed that semen extender and storage time exert a highly significant effects on the characteristics of cooled buffalo semen with the higher values recorded for tris egg yolk diluted samples. The conception rate of cooled buffalo semen was significantly (P<0.01) higher in tris (70%) diluted samples than skimmed milk (60%) and egg yolk citrate (50%) extended samples. It was concluded that the tris egg yolk extender is the most satisfactory buffering system to improve the post-cooling semen quality in buffalo and gave the best conception rate.