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Methods of collection, extender type, and freezability of semen collected from creole bulls raised in the tropical highlands of Ecuador

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Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the best combination between two collection method and two extenders in the cryopreservation of semen from creole bulls adapted to highlands of the Ecuadorian Andes. Sixty ejaculates from three adult Creole bulls were evaluated after collection by artificial vagina (AV) and electroejaculation (EE). Semen samples were split into two aliquots and diluted with a soy lecithin extender (Andromed®; A) or an egg yolk-containing extender (Triladyl®; T) and packed in straws of 0.25 ml with 20 × 106 sperms. Optical microscopy and computer-assisted semen analysis system (CASA) were used to evaluate semen quality characteristics. The effects of collection methods and extender type as well as its interaction were evaluated by a factorial ANOVA and Bonferroni’s test. Semen samples collected with EE and frozen with T (EE-T) and A (EE-A) had greater proportion of spermatozoa with optical assessed individual progressive motility (IPM), plasmatic membrane intact (HosT), and lower tail abnormalities than those obtained with AV and frozen with the same extenders (AV-T and AV-A); however, differences were significant only between EE-A and AV-T. CASA assessment indicated that the total mobility (TM) was greater (P < 0.05) in semen samples diluted with T, although these samples had a greater proportion (P < 0.05) of sperms with local motility (LM) and fewer immobile sperms (IS), than those extended with A. Generally, semen samples obtained with EE or AV and diluted with T seems to be the best option to ciopreserve gametes of Creole bulls raised in highlands of Ecuadorian Andes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Keith Inskeep, Division of Animal and Nutritionals Sciences, West Virginia University, for the critical reading of this manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported by the Dirección de Investigación de la Universidad de Cuenca (DIUC) of Ecuador, throughout project DIUC-XIII-035.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Biotecnología de la Reproducción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Cuenca, Campus Yanuncay, Av. 12 de Octubre y Diego de Tapia, Cuenca, Provincia del Azuay, Ecuador

    Daniel E. Argudo, Diego A. Galarza, Patricio Bueno, Carlos U. Iñiguez, Silvana Méndez, Manuel E. Soria, Carlos S. Torres & Fernando P. Perea

  2. Departamento de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad de los Andes, Trujillo, Venezuela

    Fernando P. Perea

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Ricardo H. Alberio

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  1. Daniel E. Argudo
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Argudo, D.E., Galarza, D.A., Bueno, P. et al. Methods of collection, extender type, and freezability of semen collected from creole bulls raised in the tropical highlands of Ecuador. Trop Anim Health Prod 51, 1839–1845 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01877-3

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