Effect of Extender Supplemented with Olive Oil on Bovine Semen Qualities

Malaysia‟s development of artificial insemination (AI) programme in the assisted reproduction technologies during the past decades has been significant. Meanwhile supplementing olive oil in humans seems applicable since olive oil contains several potent bioactive compounds of antioxidant that aids in protected the spermatozoa. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of using olive oil as an antioxidant supplement into Tris based extender in comparison with different concentration on bull semen cryopreservation quality of progressive motility, membrane integrity and viability. A total of three ejaculation semen samples from a fertile bull of Brahman breed was collected using an electro-ejaculation method. Collected samples was freshly evaluated physically and microscopically before divided and diluted using four Tris based extender containing 0% (control), 0.25%, 0.50% and 0.75% olive oil. The processed semen was equilibrated at 5°C for 3 h (chilling), packed into straws (0.25 ml), frozen and stored in a liquid nitrogen tank for 7 d before thawing and assessment of quality parameter. Semen quality parameters used for evaluation and comparison after chilling and freezing included progressive motility, membrane integrity (hypo-osmotic swelling test) and viability (eosin-nigrosin staining). The experiment showed that Tris based extender on chilling for semen quality was highest from Tris+0.75% olive oil, which was 82.62% (progressive motility) and 91.51%
(membrane integrity). Contrast to chilling, Tris+0.25% olive oil in freezing gave the best value, which was 95.96% (membrane integrity) and 91.71% (viability). Results from
chilling and freezing showed insignificantly different. The use of olive oil at different concentration on different temperature however influenced the semen quality parameters following cryopreservation. In conclusion, Tris based extender with olive oil can be considered as a cheaper alternative to commercial extender as it is cost effective to the farmers.