Theriogenology Insight - An International Journal of Reproduction in all Animals

This experiment was designed to examine whether garlic extract (GE) supplementation could improve rooster sperm motility, viability, and morphology during in vitro storage for different periods (24, 48 or 72 h). A total of 42 White Leghorn roosters, 22 – wk old randomly divided into 6 experimental pens (7 roosters each) were used in this study. The experimental groups were as follows: T1 = fresh, undiluted semen (control); T2 = semen diluted 1:1 with Lake diluent (LD) alone; T3 = semen diluted 1:1 with GE alone, while T4, T5 and T6 represented semen samples diluted 1:1 with LD and supplemented with 1, 2 and 4 ml GE/100 ml of diluent, respectively. Results denoted that semen incubation for 24, 48 or 72 h at the refrigerator temperature in the absence of GE (T1) was associated with a significant (p<0.05) decrease in the mass activity and individual motility, and significant (p<0.05) increase in the percentages of dead spermatozoa, abnormal spermatozoa and acrosomal abnormalities. However, the inclusion of GE into the LD (T4, T5 and T6) significantly (p<0.05) improved motility, viability and normality of spermatozoa acrosomes compared with control group (T1). Besides, T5 and T6 surpasses all other treatments in ameliorating the deterioration that was found in the semen traits included in this study after in vitro storage for up to 72 h. In addition, T2 was superior to T3 as regards mass activity and individual motility, whereas there were no significant differences between these two treatments with relation to percentages of live spermatozoa and normal spermatozoa and acrosomes for semen samples stored for 24, 48 or 72 h. In conclusion, supplementation of GE into avian semen diluents particularly at the doses of 2 and 4 ml GE/100 ml of diluent can be used as successful technique for depressesing the detrimental effects of lipid peroxidation which could lead to sperms deterioration during in vitro storage for up to 72 h.