Effect of freezing methods on semen quality: A study on FUNAAB Alpha (normal feather), Arbor Acre and Dominant Black chickens

Abstract

Sperm cryopreservation is a useful technique in reproduction with variations in sperm quality among different breeds. This study assessed the spermatozoa cryotolerance among different breeds of chickens using slow and rapid freezing procedures. Ten (10) breeder birds from each breed were selected for this experiment at 30 weeks of age with an average body weight of 3.0 kg. Semen samples collected from FUNAAB Alpha (Normal feather) (NF), Arbor Acre (AB) and Dominant Black (DB) were subjected to cryopreservation in a completely randomised design and analysed for sperm viability, sperm functional integrity and oxidative stress parameters respectively. The quality of sperm cells from Normal feather, Arbor Acre, and Dominant Black chicken breeds in reaction to slow and rapid freezing was assessed. Under slow freezing, the result showed that Arbor Acre has the highest sperm progressive motility of 63.04% and livability of 77.67% with low abnormalities. Dominant Black chickens showed moderate sperm progressive motility of 48.00% and an abnormality rate of 1.07%. Rapid freezing lowered sperm quality in all breeds, although Abor Acre showed a major reduction in sperm progressive motility. Oxidative stress parameters indicated that Normal feather chickens experienced a significant increase in lipid peroxidation under rapid freezing. The leukocyte values were similar across the breeds. Therefore, the findings of this research proved that slow freezing better preserves chicken semen compared to rapid freezing. Among the breeds examined, Dominant black chicken spermatozoa was better preserved.