Motility of Bali Sexed Sperm Following Equilibration and Cryopreservation in Different Concentrations of Ethylene Glycol

Freezing of bovine sperm has a critical point at the time of equilibration and freezing. Therefore, the equilibration duration and concentration of cryoprotectants that can maintain sperm during freezing and storage become determining factors for the success of bovine sperm freezing. This study aims to evaluate the effect of the interaction between equilibration duration and the concentration of ethylene glycol as cryoprotectants on the sperm motility of Bali bull sexed sperm both after equilibration and after freezing (post thawing motility). The study was conducted in February-March 2021 at the UPTD of the Center for Animal Breeding and Feed, the Food Crops and Livestock Service Office of Southeast Sulawesi Province. The material used was Bali bull aged three years and weighed 410kg as a source of semen. Factorial Completely randomized design (3x3) was used in this experiment. The first factor was the equilibration duration, consisting of 3 hours, 4 hours, and 5 hours. In contrast, the second factor was the concentration of ethylene glycol, which consisted of 5, 6, and 7%. The evaluated variable was sperm motility both after equilibration and post-thawing motility. Data were collected and tabulated, then analyzed using variance analysis, while the differences between treatments were compared using Duncan's Multiple Region Test using the IBM Statistics SPSS 24 program. The results showed that the average motility of sperm after equilibration and post-thawing motility were 66,57±3,02% and 47.78±4.84%, respectively. Based on variance analysis, it was concluded that there was no interaction effect between equilibration duration and concentration of ethylene glycol on sperm motility both after equilibration and post thawing motility of Bali bull sexed sperm.