Potential Use of Coconut Water and Saline Solutions as Diluents for Guinea Cock Semen during Short-term Storage at Ambient Temperature

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 School of Veterinary Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

2 Department of Animal Science Education, College of Agriculture, Akenten Appiah Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Development

3 Department of Animal Science Education, Akenten Appiah Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Development

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the potential use of coconut water and saline solutions as diluents for Guinea cock semen during short-term storage at ambient temperatures. Thirty adult male Guinea cocks were recruited from the same hatch batch and trained for semen collection by the dorso-abdominal massage for six weeks. At the end of the training period, ten Guinea cocks were selected as semen donors. Semen was collected once weekly from the semen donors during the morning hours between 0700-0800 AM. The collected semen was pooled and evaluated for spermatozoa motility and viability at the time of collection. The evaluated semen was divided into five equal portions. One portion was not diluted and served as a control. The remaining four portions were diluted with normal saline, dextrose saline, modified Ringer’s lactate solutions, and coconut water respectively at a ratio of 1:3(v/v). Aliquots were taken from the diluted semen and assessed for spermatozoa motility and viability at 0,1,2 and 3 hours post-collection and dilution. This procedure was repeated for ten weeks from July to September 2020. The results indicate that Guinea cock semen diluted in coconut water and Ringer’s Lactate Solution and stored at ambient temperatures for three hours, maintained a spermatozoon motility and viability rate of 20% and 10%, respectively. It was concluded that coconut water was more effective as a diluent than Ringer’s lactate, dextrose saline, and normal saline in preserving the motility and viability of Guinea cock spermatozoa stored at ambient temperatures.

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