STUDY ON PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCES AND SEMEN QUALITY OF ASEEL CHICKEN

Abstract

Aseel, Naked Neck, and Red Junglefowl are the most important chicken genetic resources in Bangladesh. However, due to the unconsciousness of the farmers, uncontrolled crossing with other indigenous chickens, lack of proper conservation programs these are close to extinction. To conserve the extinct species the various ways were adopted in developed countries. As the first initiative of in vitro conservation of the poultry genetic resources, the present study was undertaken with four different distinct experiments to know the productive and reproductive performance of Aseel chicken and to study semen quality, sperm motility, biokinetic characteristics, sperm cryo-survivability by pre-freezing addition of honey as the possible cryo-protectant. Semen quality and the effect of honey on semen cryopreservation were evaluated by measuring sperm motility and biokinetic parameters with Computer Semen Analysis (CASA). The Aseel, Naked Neck and Red Junglefowl chickens were reared in open sided house in semi-scavenging condition at the Advanced Avian Research Farm, HSTU, Dinajpur. The Aseel sperm were cryopreserved using different level of honey where Glycerol and DMSO were also used as the positive controls. Considering productive and reproductive characteristics of the Aseel chicken showed almost similar performances of other chicken genetic resources but in some cases Aseel performed better. The semen color obtained from Aseel cocks was creamy white and showed a normal appearance and proved the semen quality was normal. The volume of semen per ejaculation and the pH were almost similar to others’ semen. Sperm motility was also observed normal in relation to motility and progressive motility along with other biokinetic characteristics. Considering the motility and percentage of the progressively motile sperm, the semen samples might be stored for up to 2 hours in good condition for insemination. Pre-freezing addition of 3% honey showed the satisfactory results in maintaining cryo-survivability. The productive and reproductive characteristics did not vary in case of natural and artificial insemination with fresh and diluted semen. Moreover, the result showed that the addition of 3% honey in Ringer’s solution performed as a cryoprotective agent which may help to cryopreserve Aseel roosters’ semen as the native chicken genetic resource and revealed that honey might has the cryoprotective properties. Therefore, the study concluded that the pre-freezing addition of honey improved the cryo-survivability of Aseel’s sperm and suggested for in vitro conservation of chicken genetic resources available in Bangladesh.