Efficiency of Ringer B. Braun solution on stallion epididymal sperm motility and viability compared to the commercial extender within 72 hours of storage

Abstract

Collection of epididymal stallion sperm offers the opportunity to retain and use genetic material from the males after elective castration or even post mortem. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the Ringer B. Braun solution on stallion epididymal sperm viability and motility during liquid storage for 72 h at 4 °C and at 20 °C. Eight stallions (3–10 years old) were used in the study. Sperm from the cauda epididymis was harvested immediately after routine castration. The sperm from epididymis was washed out and diluted with Ringer B. Braun solution and with a commercial semen extender which was used as a control. Samples from each horse were divided into two parts: one part of samples was stored at 4 ± 1 °C as recommended for the commercial semen extender, the other one was stored at 20 ± 1 °C. Sperm viability, motility, and pH were checked one hour after collection and dilution, and after 24, 48 and 72 h of incubation. The results of sperm viability, subjective and progressive sperm motility showed slightly higher results in semen samples diluted with Ringer B. Braun solution in one hour compared to the commercial extender, by 2.40 ± 0.49% for viability (P > 0.05), by 0.30 ± 9.92% for subjective motility (P > 0.05) and by 5.70 ± 6.07% for progressive motility (P > 0.05). We suggest that Ringer solution could be used for a short term storage (1–24 h) of equine epididymal semen at a 4 °C temperature.