The southern Pudu (Pudu puda) is a cervid species which has been classified as vulnerable by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). In this context, it is essential to develop semen collection methods and cryopreservation protocols in order to keep sperm samples for conservation purposes. The aim of this work was to study the effect of two sperm collection methods (electroejaculation (EE) vs. rectal massage (RM)) and two glycerol concentrations (3% vs. 6%) on sperm quality after cryopreservation procedure. Semen from six adult males was obtained by EE and RM. Then, each sperm sample was split into two aliquots, being one of them diluted with Tris medium+3% of glycerol and the other one with Tris medium+6% of glycerol and subsequently frozen. Sperm motility, viability and acrosomal integrity were assessed after collection, before cryopreservation, at thawing and after 2 h of incubation. A GLMANOVA was carried out and differences were considered significant when p ≤ 0.05. There were not differences between both sperm collection methods studied. However, when we assessed glycerol concentrations for each collection methods we observed higher significant sperm viability, motility and spermatozoa with intact acrosome (p ≤ 0.05) for 3% of glycerol compared to 6% after 2 h of incubation. In conclusion, sperm samples from Pudu can be successfully collected by EE or RM and cryopreserved with an extender containing 3% of glycerol.

Resumen del póster presentado al 12th International Congress of the Spanish Association of Animal Reproduction, celebrado en Alicante del 16 al 18 de octubre de 2014.

Peer Reviewed