Coconut Milk - Citrate As Extender For West African Dwarf Buck Spermatozoa At Room Temperature

We studied the proportions of coconut milk and sodium citrate buffer suitable for extension of West African dwarf (WAD) buck spermatozoa at room temperature. Semen was collected from clinically healthy buck certified free of obvious andrological defects. Eight trials of semen extension were carried out using 0.1 ml of semen plus 0.5 ml buffer as individual extender. In the extenders D1 to D7, while the buffer (sodium citrate) was decreasing, the coconut milk was increasing. Statistical analyses from 5 trials showed that D2 containing 20% coconut milk and 80% citrate buffer that supported mean sperm cell motility of 52.6% was highly significant (p = 0.018) at 2 hours post-extension in preserving motility of extended buck semen un-refrigerated compared to both D3 (40% coconut milk and 60% citrate buffer) and D4 (50% coconut milk and 50% citrate buffer). D2 also maintained mean sperm cell motility of 45% and was highly superior (p = 0.012) to both D3 and D4 at 3 hours post-extension. However, in D2, there was no statistical difference (p = 0.693) between 2 hours and 3 hours storage time in mean motility of extended sperm cells. Similarly, there was no difference (p = 0.106) in mean sperm cell motility between D2 at 3 hours and D3 at 2 hours post extension. We concluded therefore, that D2 was superior to others with which it was compared; and that it preserved extended buck semen for more than 2 hours storage at room temperature.

Keywords
West African dwarf buck, spermatozoa, coconut milk, semen extension, motility