Effect of Alcoholic Extract of Opuntia Ficus Indica on Semen Quality of Awassi Rams after Different Cooling Periods Hobi Abd AL-Kareem Abd AL-Reda1, AL-Helal Ahmed Mahdi Abbas1,* 1Department of Animal Production, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad, Iraq *Corresponding Author: Ahmed Mahdi Abbas AL-Helal, Department of Animal Production, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad, Iraq, Email: alhelal_ahmed@yahoo.com
Online published on 13 November, 2019. Abstract This study was conducted to undertaken the effect of adding alcohols extract of Opuntia ficus indica fruits (AEOFI), and its effect on some characteristics of Awassi rams semen during liquid storage at 5 ºC for up to 72 h in Tris egg yolk (TEY) extender. To select the better concentration of alcohols extract. This experiment was executed at the farm Animal, Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad AL-Jadreya campus during the period from the first October, 2017 to 27 th of march, 2018. Semen samples from three local Awassi rams were pooled and extended with Tris-egg yolk extenders containing (AEOFI) (0%, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 3%), at a final concentration of 0.8 x 109 sperm/ml. The sperm characteristics (individual motility, plasma membrane integrity and dead sperm) were evaluated at different time periods (0, 24, 48, 72 h) at cooling 5°C. Results showed that the supplementation of Tris egg yolk extenders with 1% (AEOFI) contributed to enhance sperm individual motility, membrane integrity and decreased the percentage of dead sperm, during storage compared with the control group. In conclusion, (TEY) supplemented with 1% of (AEOFI) can improve the quality of Awassi ram semen. In addition, our results suggest that (AEOFI) in these concentrations can help to enhance Awassi ram semen quality during chilled storage. Top Keywords Awassi ram, Alcohols extract, Semen, Sperm characteristics, Tris. Top |