Comparison of Two Freezing Extenders and their Influence on Sperm Quality of Tunisian Arab stallions

Abstract

The objective of the study was to evaluate semen quality of Tunisian Arab stallions frozen with 2 methods using 2 freezing based-extenders: the INRA 96® or the INRA Freeze®. The semen was collected from 28 Tunisian Arab stallions and frozen following the previous methods. After thawing, the percentage of death spermatozoa, sperm motility parameters and morphology features were determined in both semen, frozen in the based-extender INRA 96® or the INRA Freeze®. The membrane integrity was determined only in the semen frozen in the INRA Freeze®. Results showed that motility parameters of post-thawed semen were better in the INRA96® than in the INRA Freeze® extender. However, abnormal sperm were higher in INRA96® than in INRA Freeze® extender (p<0.05). The statistical analysis showed, also, no variation for the percentage of death spermatozoa between the 2 based-extenders. Consequently, the use of the INRA Freeze® as a based-extender for Tunisian Arab stallions’ frozen semen improved only sperm morphology and did not give us satisfactory results for sperm motility in comparison with the INRA96®. Another in vivo assay is recommended in order to determine the effect of the two based-extenders on the pregnancy rate per cycle.