Effect of lycopene on fowl sperm characteristics during in vitro storage

Chicken and turkey sperm contains high amounts of PUFAs and spontaneous peroxidation occurs during in vitro storage. For this reason, the addition of antioxidant to diluent takes special interest in the improvement of commercial extenders. The effects of lycopene added to fowl sperm was the object of this study. Semen of 13 roosters, from 36th to 43rd week of age, was collected and pooled. Fresh semen was evaluated at 0 h time and 4 aliquots of 500μL were diluted to 2×109 sperm/mL by diluent Lake or Lake and lycopene at different concentrations (500μg/mL, 250μg/mL and 100μg/mL) and stored at 13/14°C in a water bath for 24 h. Motility, forward progressive motility and viability were evaluated at 1 h, 6 h and 24 h. Sperm motility and forward progressive motility were not significantly (P > 0.05) affected by lycopene inclusion. For 500μg/mL treatment the viability parameter was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than for Lake or Lake with 250μg/mL and higher for Lake with 100μg/mL. Besides, among the treatments the 500μg/mL of lycopene reduced the viability loss between 6 h and 24 h of incubation. The results of the present study suggest positive effects of lycopene supplementation to extender on fowl sperm survival during liquid storage.