CAMEL SEMEN QUALITY AND ENZYMATIC ACTIVITY OF SPERMATOZOA UNDER REFREGERATION CONDITIONS

A.E.B, ZEIDAN,; EL-METWALY, H.A.,; AMER, A.M.; OTHMAN, AMAL, A.; DESOKY, AHMED, L.I.; AL-AKHRAS, A.A.M.; MATTER, M.S.; EL-TAHAN, DALIA, S.A.

doi:10.21608/avmj.2025.361050.1586

CAMEL SEMEN QUALITY AND ENZYMATIC ACTIVITY OF SPERMATOZOA UNDER REFREGERATION CONDITIONS

Document Type : Short communication

Authors

¹ Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

² Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

³ Animal Health Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Mansoura, Laboratory, Egypt.

10.21608/avmj.2025.361050.1586

Abstract

The camel is an important livestock species that can uniquely adapted to hot and arid environments. Success of Artificial Insemination (AI) which in turn is dependent on the quality of semen obtained and its capacity for dilution and storage with minimum loss of fertilizing ability. The aim of the current work was to investigate the effects of varying ages and storage time on male Maghrebi camel’s spermatozoa parameters during refrigeration at 5ºC for three days. Semen was collected using an artificial vagina (AV), which was then extended using lactose-yolk-citrate extender (LYC) then evaluated for motility, viability, morphology, DNA integrity and spermatozoa's in vitro response and cervical mucus penetration occurrence. The results showed that both age or storage time resulted in a reduction (P<0.01) in total motile spermatozoa. The highest sperm quality was recorded on the first days of storage at 5°C During three days of refrigerated storage at 5ºC, the proportions of dead, aberrant, acrosome damaged, and chromatin damaged spermatozoa increased (P<0.01) in all animals ages. At camel aged 4–9 and 9–14 years, the seminal plasma's AST and ALT enzyme activity had decreased (P<0.01). However, pH levels remained relatively unaffected at different ages. During incubation at 37ºC for up to 4 hours, spermatozoa at ages 4 to 14 and 9 to 14 years had a greater (P<0.01) capacity to permeate cervical mucus than those at ages 14 to 19. In conclusion, varying ages of Maghrebi camels and duration of storage times resulted in a reduction in spermatozoa motility.

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