Study the properties of ram semen preserved at 5°C for different periods after adding different levels of acai fruit extract.

Abstract

This study was conducted to know the effect of adding an aqueous extract of Acai fruit (Euterpe oleracea Martius) to the semen extender of Awassi rams on semen Parameters after storage at cooling. This study was carried out in the animal field and laboratories of the Department of Animal Production-College of Agricultural Engineering University of Baghdad from November 15, 2021, to April 25, 2022. Three local Awassi rams were used in this experiment. Their ages were between 2.5 - 3 years, and they weighed Between 50-58 kg. Semen was collected from them using an artificial vagina to obtain one ejaculate from each ram per week. The samples were divided using Tris extender: 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 mg Acai extract / 1 ml Tris in addition to the control group. The necessary tests were performed to evaluate the semen in terms of estimating individual motility, the percentage of sperm viability, the percentage of abnormal sperms, the integrity of the plasma membrane and the acrosome integrity. There was a significant increase (P<0.05) in the percentage of sperm viability during the T3 treatment periods (48 and 72 hours) compared to the control group C for the same two periods; also there were no significant differences between all groups in the two periods (0 and 24 hours) of preservation in comparison with the control treatment C. Moreover T3 recorded a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in the percentage of sperm abnormality after 24 hours of preservation when compared with the control group C in the same period, while there were no significant differences between groups T1, T2, T3 and T4 compared with the control group C in the periods 0, 48 and 72 hours. Keywords: ram semen, acai fruit, plant extracts