BASIC QUALITY PARAMETERS OF RAM SEMEN FROM SLOVAK NATIONAL SHEEP BREEDS
Keywords:
Slovak sheep breeds, ram, sperm motility, morphologyAbstract
Fertility is a very complex biological function that depends on several properties of spermatozoa. Male fertility may be defined as the ability of a sperm cell to fertilize an oocyte and support development to produce viable offspring. When insemination doses from outstanding rams are intended to long-term storage in the gene bank, it is necessary to determine their sperm quality prior to cryopreservation. The aim of our study was to check the quality of fresh semen collected from rams of the three national sheep breeds: Native Wallachian (NW), Improved Wallachian (IW) and Slovak Dairy Sheep (SDS). We evaluated basic parameters of spermatozoa, such as sperm concentration, motility and morphology (sperm abnormalites) using CASA assay. No significant differences in the studied parameters among the breeds were recorded. Our results indicate that rams of three national breeds are characterized by a proper sperm quality for storage in the gene bank. The evaluation of the concentration, motility and morphology of sperm could be used at selection of best insemination doses for cryopreservation.
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