MVSc

With the ultimate objective of evolving a suitable
diluent for preservation of dog semen at 4°C, semen was
collected from six mongrel dogs maintained in kennels at
Veterinary college hospital, Mannuthy. A total of 36
ejaculates, six from each dog was collected by digital
manipulation and physical and morphological characters were
evaluated. Three extenders viz., Egg Yolk Tris (TYT), Egg
Yolk citrate glycine glucose (EYCGG) and Goat milk (GM) were
used for preservation of semen. Sperm motility, percentage of
live sperm, abnormal spermatozoa and acrosomal integrity were
evaluated at 24 hours interval for five days after
preservation at 4°C in the above extenders.
Six out of seven dogs showed good response to digital
manipulation and ejaculated good quality semen without teaser
bitch. The overall mean volume of first, second and third
fraction of semen was 0.63 ± 0.07 ml, 1.29 ± 0.08 ml and 4.12
± 0.23 ml respectively. The colour and consistency of the
first and third fraction was clear, watery and second fraction
was thickmilkly to thin milkly. The average mass activity of
sperm rich fraction of semen was ++(+) and the density was DD.
The mean initial sperm motility was 86.67 ± 1.07 per cent.

The mean pH of first, second and third fraction of semen was
6.24 ± 0.01, 6.36 ± 0.01 and 6.65 ± 0.02 respectively.
The overall mean spermatozoal concentration of second
fraction was 416.28 ± 22.56 million per ml and that third
fraction was 6.11 ± 1.66 million per ml. The average total
sperm output per ejaculate was 527.50 ± 29.46 million. The
overall mean live sperm and abnormal sperm was 89.44 ± 0.57
and 7.59 ± 0.45 per cent. The percentage of acrosomal
abnormality was 6.63 ± 0.38. The average time taken for
reduction of methylene blue by dog semen was 26.40 ± 0.86
minutes. The mean percentage of sperm motility at 0,10,20 and
30 minutes of incubation (46.5°C) was 86.38 ± 1.04, 88.33 ±
1.13, 70.55 ± 1.26 and 53.2 ± 2.17 respectively. There was
significant (P minutes of incubation and sperm motility upto 5 days of
preservation under refrigeration temperature.
The percentage of sperm motility upto day 5 was
significantly higher in Egg Yolk Tris (49.86 per cent) and Egg
Yolk citrate Glycine Glucose (48.33 per cent) than in Goat
milk (0 per cent).
There was significantly higher percentage of live sperms
and lower percentage of abnormal sperms and acrosomal damage
in EYT and EYCGG than in GM. Eventhough the values are not
statistically significant among EYT and EYCGG, EYT was found
to have higher percentage of sperm motility and live sperm,



lower percentage of abnormal sperms and acrosomal damage when
compared to EYCGG. Besides EYT was also found to have better
clarity for microscopical examination. Hence it could be
inferred that Egg yolk tris is superior to Egg yolk citrate
glycine glucose and goat milk for preservation of dog semen at
4°C.