Vie CONG. INTERN. REPROD. ANIM. INSEM. ARTIF.,, PARIS, 1968, VOL. I

C onservation of buffalo semen at room temperatures in coconut milk
extender (CME).

C. NORMAN, N.H. JOSHI, A. KHAN and A.V. RAI

W est Virginia University, Morgantown, W iVa, ;- ULS A

M ysore State Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Division,
M ysore University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India.

There seems little doubt that the buffalo has played a highly signi-
ficant role in the economy of Asia. In India where the buffalo, in
addition to its usefulness as a work animal, serves as the main source
of milk and ghee - its contribution as an efficient source of dairy pro-
ducts is being seriously challenged by exotic breeds of dairy cattle,

N evertheless, there are some reputable dairy scientists who strongly
believe that accelerated and intensified research on the reproductive
physiology and genetics of the buffalo can develop a buffalo which can
effectively compete with other dairy breeds as a producer of milk. The
reason for this optimistic view stems in part from long-term experiments
designed to improve the productivity and reproductive performance of
the buffalo. There is evidence in India from Maharashtra, Punjab and
G ujarat that selective breeding programs have produced buffalo capable
of yielding as much as 40% more milk (1). Although, the production of
a better breed of buffalo is in itself a significant achievement, it is
equally important that the germ plasm from the sires of these genetically
superior milking buffaloes is artificially inseminated as widely and exped-
itiously as possible to upgrade the rest of the buffalo population. Here-
tofore, attempts to increase milk production in buffaloes by means of
artificial breeding has been hampered by inadequate techniques for con-
serving buffalo sperm. Their fertilizing capacity unlike that of bull
sperm could not as arule be maintained for more than 24-48 hours at
59C in conventional milk and egg yolk extenders. The purpose of this
report is to present preliminary results obtained from a cooperative re-
search project conducted in Mysore State, India on the effectiveness of
C oconut Milk Extender (CME) in conserving functional buffalo (Murrah)
sperm for several days at room temperatures (20°4=889€ )¢

M ATERIAL AND METHODS.

Coconuf Milk Extender (CME) was prepared in advance as previously
noted (2), and kept in the refrigerator until needed. Following the
collection and evaluation of Murrah buffalo semen maintained at the Cen-
tral Semen Bank at Hebbal, the neat semen was diluted with CME which
had first been brought to ambient temperature. Due to the heavy demand
for buffalo semen the final live sperm concentration was usually main-
tained at 1 x 107 sperm/ml. The extended semen was poured into 2 ml.
plastic vials and sent by post or car to A.l. sub-centers, without refrig-
eration. A sufficient number of vials were kept in the laboratory so that
fresh vials could be opened daily for microscopic appraisal of motility.

ms