Comparison of Electro Ejaculator and Artificial Vagina on Semen Collection from South African Indigenous Goat Following Assessment by Computer Aided Sperm Analysis

Abstract

South African indigenous bucks are raised under extensive conditions and are more likely to reject artificial vagina (AV) due to their limited contact with human beings, as they are less handled. The purpose of the study was to compare goat semen collection techniques used for goats based on semen traits of South African indigenous bucks during the natural breeding season. A total of eight South African indigenous bucks were used, four bucks per semen collection technique due to their scarcity. Before semen collection with AV group, ten bucks were trained and exposed to AV. Semen was then collected from both groups over a period of six weeks per individual buck. Semen volume, pH and sperm concentration were evaluated immediately. The Computer Aided Sperm Analysis (CASA) assessed the sperm motility rates. Sperm morphology was evaluated using a fluorescence microscope with the aid of eosin-nigrosin staining. Analysis of variance was used to test the differences among the semen collection groups following assessment by CASA. Semen collected with EE resulted in higher semen volume (1.1 mL) compared with AV (0.5 mL) technique. However, AV technique resulted in higher total sperm motility and rapid movement (91.9% and 48.7%), live sperm (72%) and sperm concentration (635.6 × 106 sperm/mL) compared with EE (86.3% and 30.4%; 69% and 463.7 × 106 sperm/mL, respectively). There were no significant differences observed in pH and sperm morphology characteristics between two semen collection techniques. Moreover, EE had higher sperm moving in a progressive (53.6%) and medium rate compared with AV (41.1% and 21.9%) technique. It was concluded that the AV yielded higher total sperm motility rate, sperm concentration and rapid sperm movement compared with EE. Therefore, AV was more suitable for semen collection of South African indigenous bucks, even though training was problematic to such indigenous bucks.