Effect of different concentrations of guava juice in extender towards the chilled semen characteristics of malin sheep

Extender has a significant role in protecting the sperm cell against various shocks during the preservation method. Addition of vitamin C in extender has been observed to impacted in high sperm viability and sperm morphology. In this study, the juice from local guava fruit (high vitamin C) was used. The objectives of this research were 1) to assess the efficacy of guava juice supplementation on sperm motility, progressive motility, path velocity (VAP) and progressive velocity (VSL) and 2) to determine the optimal concentration of guava juice in extender. The semen was collected from an adult Malin ram using artificial vagina and was diluted in the extender. The semen was divided into 5 different groups according to the volume of guava juice (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 ml) with 4 different time frame (0, 2, 4 and 24 hours). The semen was then chilled at 4o C. The evaluation of sperm was done using the Computer Assisted Sperm Analyser (CASA) and the sperm parameters evaluated were motility, progressive motility, VAP and VSL. The result obtained showed that, the sperm diluted with extender containing 10 ml of guava juice gave significantly higher mean value of motility (92.8 %) and VAP (98.1 μm/s) at 2 hours of storage. On the other hand, sperm contained 20 ml of guava juice in extender gave significantly lower mean value of progressive motility (22.2 %) and VSL (42.9 μm/s) at 24 hours of storage. In a nutshell, this study proved that guava juice was efficient in preserving the ram sperm at 4oC. At 2 hours of storage, 10 ml guava juice was the best concentration observed.