Improvement of Sexed Sperm Quality of Bali Bulls by Adding Palmyra (Borassus flabellifer Linn.) Fruit Water to Citrate-Egg Yolk Extender

Abstract

Sperm sexing is a technique designed to separate sperm carrying the X and Y chromosomes, which are then used for artificial insemination to generate offspring with the sex the breeder desires. However, the sexing process causes a decrease in sperm quality caused by oxidative stress due to an excessive increase in free radicals. Thus, to counteract the detrimental effects of free radicals on sperm life, antioxidants must be added to the diluent. This study was designed by adding palmyra fruit water (PFw) to citrate-egg yolk (CEy) diluent. This study aimed to evaluate the potency of PFw as a natural antioxidant supplement in CEy diluent to improve the quality of sexing sperm in Bali bulls. Sperm were collected using the artificial vagina method from three Bali bulls aged 3-4 years. Good quality sperm (motility ≥70%, abnormality ≤20%) were sexed with a three-layer albumin gradient method (5, 10, and 15 percent) for 20 minutes, and sperm that were on the bottom albumin layer were preserved in CEy, PFw, PFw-egg yolk (PFw-Ey), or CEy-PFw. The results showed that sperm preservation in the CEy-PFw diluent resulted in higher sperm quality (P<0.05) compared to the other three diluents, except for the sperm abnormality parameter (P>0.05). It was concluded that adding PFw into the CEy diluent could potentially improve the sexed sperm quality of Bali bulls.