Evaluation of sperm recovered after slaughter from cauda epididymides of red Sokoto bucks

AIM: Viable spermatozoa could be recovered from the cauda epididymides for the purpose of preservation of genetic material of male animals with desirable traits and for use in reproductive biotechnology. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of storage time on testicular and epididymal biometry, sperm reserves and epididymal sperm characteristics of red Sokoto bucks post mortem. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Testes-epididymides were collected immediately after slaughter of mature red Sokoto bucks and transported in ice chest to the laboratory. The samples were either processed immediately or stored at 5°C in refrigerator for 24, 48 h and then processed. The testes and epididymides were measured and weighed. Sperm motility, concentration, livability, morphology, intact acrosome, and sperm reserves from different treatment groups including control were evaluated and means (±standard error of mean) were recorded. RESULTS: There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the testicular and epididymal dimensions determined between the means of the groups. Percent sperm motility and viability decreased significantly (p<0.05) after 24 h from 69.00±0.46 and 71.27±0.50% to 50.60±0.48 and 60.47±0.70% at 48 h, respectively. Significant decreases (p<0.05) in epididymal sperm concentration and intact acrosome from 2.86±0.08 and 92.87±0.39 at 0 to 24 h of storage, respectively, were observed. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that spermatozoa recovered from the epididymides of red Sokoto bucks were viable after storage for up to 48 h. Furthermore, this finding offers some hope that epididymal sperm recovered post-mortem can be used in assisted reproductive technologies.