Title: Effect of diluents type and preservation periods on some sheep semen characteristics
Abstract: The present study aimed to evaluate three seminal diluents and three conservation periods (0, 48 and 96 hours) on quality of Barki rams. The three diluents tests were citrate-egg yolk , tris – egg yolk and skim milk – egg yolk. The dilution ratio was 1 diluent:10 semen. Semen was collected from barki rams using artificial vagina ram one time monthly in the morning during September, October and November. Semen samples after dilution with the tested diluents were conserved for 48 and 96 hours, then semen quality was evaluated. The results obtained are summarized as following :
1- tris –egg yolk diluent showed the best sperm movement and the livability of the sperm was better compared to the skim milk diluent.
2- tris + skim milk showed the lowest abnormality percentage compared to citrate.
3- The conservation periods had significant effects where the tris- diluent was the best in semen conservation using cooling compared to citrate.