An improvised artificial vagina for rabbit semen collection and the characteristics of the extended rabbit semen as panacea for artificial insemination

Abstract

Rabbit production has been greatly improved upon by the use of artificial insemination. There are several reports on characteristics of semen collected with the use of artificial vagina. This study developed an unsophisticated and improvised artificial vagina (IAV) using locally fabricated materials and its efficiency in semen collection was evaluated. The IAV was used to collect semen from 35 bucks with total attempt of 700 over a period of 10 weeks. 692 attempts were successful with adequate ejaculate collections giving an efficiency of 98.86%. Result reveals that the use of this IAV is possible. This study also show that dilution ratio reduced sperm concentration and extension above 1:2 ratio (semen : extender) declined sperm progressive motility and reduced mass activity in in vitro assessment of extended rabbit semen.