Efecto de la concentración de la nenaquinona 4 en semen ovino post congelación.

Abstract

The production of sheep in the Andean countries represents an important economic activity, which has increased the need to improve their reproduction, with artificial insemination (AI) and specifically the cryopreservation technique being the most studied. To maintain and enhance seminal quality in different species, synthetic and natural antioxidants have been added to increase fertility by improving semen quality. With this background, the role of Menaquinone-4 (vitamin K2) added to sheep semen was studied, mainly for its antioxidant property to improve the characteristics of the semen during the freezing and post-freezing processes. In this research, the effect of the concentration of this substance in post-thaw ovine semen was evaluated, and applied in the following doses (1 millimole and 10 millimoles), in diluted semen from Dorper, Katahdin, and Pelibuey sheep. Over 11 days, semen free of treatment was studied. The results demonstrated that the application of Menaquinone-4 to fresh semen showed better characteristics in thawed samples regarding propidium iodide values, progressive motility, non-progressive motility, immobile sperm, curvilinear velocity, average velocity, linearity, head amplitude, and tail beat. Based on the C.A.S.A. (Computer Assisted Sperm Analysis System), the values were significantly reduced (p<0.01). It is concluded that treatment with Vitamin K on ram semen reduces cellular damage by neutralizing free radicals, resulting in more active and functional sperm after freezing.

Keywords: Artificial insemination, sperm quality, cryopreservation, Menaquinone 4.