Effects of Thawing Methods (Techniques) on Freeze Thaw Buffalo Bull Sperm Quality

Methods: Three buffalo bulls of the 1-2 year age were selected at Semen Production Unit, Qadirabad, Pakistan. Semen was collected by artificial vagina at 42 °C and 18 qualified ejaculates (two ejaculates/bull/week) for 3 weeks (replicate) were cryopreserved following a standard protocol. Frozen semen was divided in different groups, with each group being thawed at different temperature and time. Group I was subjected to slow thawing at 4-5°C, 2nd group to moderate thawing at 35oC-37 oC , 3rd group to rapid thawing while the 4th one was subjected to air thawing. Moreover, optimum incubation period of cryopreserved sperm was evaluated by thawing and incubating 42 straws in a water bath at 37oC in with 2 straws being assessed every hour up till 10 hours.