Effects of Different Concentrations of Coconut Water Extended with Glycerol and Ringers Solution Extenders on Cockerel Semen Preservation

Abstract

The study was conducted at the Poultry Unit of the Teaching and Research Farm, Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Kashere, Gombe State. Nigeria, Kashere is located at an elevation of 431metre above the sea level. Its coordinates lies between latitude 9°46''O''N and longitude 100o57'0'' E, Altitude 349m (2006, census). The aim of the study was to determine the effects of cryptoprotectants on cockerel semen preservation. A total of twelve (12) indigenous cockerels with ages ranging from 12 to 15 months, with an unknown previous management background from local markets in Kashere were used. The cockerels were managed intensively and put into pens as experimental units. Cockerels were fed daily with growers mash feed and served water ad libitum; the birds were trained once a day in the morning by abdominal massage for two weeks. The cockerels were randomly allotted into three treatments. Each treatment had 3 replicates. The indigenous cockerels were trained once a day and semen was collected between 10:00am and 11:00am. The cockerels were allowed a period of two week for adaptation, Semen were collected by abdominal massage method described by Burrows and Quinn (1937). The semen concentration were measured using haemocytometer with the direct cell count method. The coconut water was collected from a freshly harvested coconut plant. Five milliliters of the coconut water was placed into different sampling bottles and diluted with different percentages of glycerol. The data on the percentage of sperm progressive motility, live/dead sperm, morphological normal intact sperm, total abnormal head, mid-piece/neck, tail and overall abnormalities were subjected to a one way analysis of variance using statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23, 2015). coconut water extended with ringer solution at 2% glycerol at 0-7% concentration showed no significance difference (P<0.05). In this study head sperm was significantly high (P<0.05) at 2%, 3%, 5% and ..