The average post-thaw viability, motility and fertility of frozen-thawed buffalo spermatozoa is substantially low as compared to that of the cattle spermatozoa, which leads to lower conception rate in buffalo. The sperm structure and seminal plasma composition varies considerably between cattle and buffalo. It may be noted that several components of seminal plasma play critical roles for the survival and fertility of sperm. Hence, a particular semen extender cannot be used for both the species as the semen compositions vary significantly between these two species. Traditionally, the semen extender that is used for cryopreservation of cattle semen is also used for the buffalo semen. Therefore, to improve the quality of cryopreserved buffalo spermatozoa, it is crucial to use a buffalo-specific semen extender that is developed based on its semen composition. Earlier, various agents have been added empirically to the buffalo semen extender for improving the post-thaw sperm functions, but none of those was successful and could not be adapted so far by semen stations. At the ICAR-NIANP, we developed an effective tris-citrate-fructose-glycerol-egg-yolk based buffalo-specific semen extender based on the unique information about its seminal plasma composition.
This novel buffalo-specific semen extender contains the essential metabolites that are generally found deficient in buffalo seminal plasma as compared to that of the cattle. The performance of this extender has been validated at the semen cryopreservation centre of BAIF, Pune, Maharashtra.
Approximately, 80% of the buffalo bulls responded to this new semen extender and exhibit improved post-thaw sperm qualities (motility, viability and acrosomal integrity) of the cryopreserved semen. This extender improves the post-thaw progressive motility of the cryopreserved buffalo spermatozoa by 5-47% (depending upon the bull) as compared to the extender used traditionally for buffalo.
We recommend performing initial screening to identify the buffalo bull that exhibits positive response to this new extender. Subsequently, this extender can be used efficiently for the routine dilution and cryopreservation of semen from the identified buffalo bulls.
The cost of production using this new semen extender is Rupees 1425/10,000 straws as compared to Rupees 1405/10,000 straws for the traditionally used buffalo semen extender. Thus, the use of this new extender incurs an additional cost of only Rupees 20/10,000 straws.
A patent has been filed for the product.
Any enquiry related to commercialization of the product may be made directly to the Director ICAR-NIANP (directornianp@gmail.com)
