Kinematic and morphological evaluation of frozen Friesian Holstein semen stored for 33, 30, 27, and 24 years.

BACKGROUND

Fertility is determined by sperm motility, kinematics, and morphology. Motility is the most commonly used metric worldwide, aside from movement score and semen concentration, and is one of the semen quality indicators included in the Indonesian national standard (SNI 4869.1-2017) for frozen semen quality.

AIM: This study aimed to determine the effect of frozen semen storage for 33, 30, 27, and 24 years on the sperm kinematics and morphology of frozen-thawed semen in FH bulls.

METHODS

Samples were collected from the frozen semen of FH bulls using five straws for each storage period. Evaluation of frozen-thawed sperm motility, kinematics, and morphology was performed using a computer-assisted sperm analysis IVOS® II sperm analyzer. Each sample was measured in five fields, observation included motility (%), progressivity (%), concentration (million spermatozoa/ml), kinematics parameters consisting of the amplitude of lateral head displacement (μm), curvilinear velocity (VCL, μm/s), straight-line velocity (VSL, μm/s), average path velocity (VAP, μm/s), linearityLIN = VSL/VCL, %, wobbleWOB = VAP/VCL, %, and straightnessSTR = VSL/VAP, %.

RESULTS

Based on statistical observation, the results of the research were not significantly different (p > 0.05) among storage years for sperm concentration and motility, kinematics, static, and sperm morphological of FH bull frozen-thawed semen stored for 24, 27, 30, and 33 years. Moreover, sperm motility was >40%, meeting Indonesian frozen bovine semen standards.

CONCLUSION

FH bull frozen-thawed semen of 33, 30, 27, and 24 years did not differ in sperm concentration, motility, kinematics, and sperm morphology and fulfilled the standards for artificial insemination.