¹Department of Reproduction and Artificial Insemination, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Uludag University, TR-16059 Bursa - TURKEY
²Beekeeping Development-Application and Research Center, Uludag University, TR-16059 Bursa - TURKEY DOI : 10.9775/kvfd.2018.21311 The aim of the current study was to determine the optimum concentration of bovine serum albumin for post-thawing quality of drone sperm and this is the first study to evaluate the effect of BSA supplemented TL-Hepes based extenders for drone semen cryopreservation. Sexually mature drones were used for semen collection. Pooled semen was diluted with TL-Hepes based extender supplemented with different concentrations of BSA (1 mg/mL, 3 mg/mL, and 5 mg/mL) or without BSA (control), at a final concentration of 100x106 spermatozoon/mL. Motility, plasma membrane functional integrity (HOST), and defected acrosome (PSA-FITC) were evaluated in the study. At post thaw, the highest sperm motility rates were obtained in the BSA5 group (P<0.05). Functional integrity of sperm membrane was better preserved in the BSA3 and BSA5 groups compared to the other groups. The acrosomal integrity rates were higher in BSA5 group than in control group (P<0.05). The study shows that bovine serum albumin supplemented TL-Hepes based extenders have beneficial effect on drone semen parameters at post-thaw. The results of the study demonstrated a notable advantage of using 5 mg/mL of BSA in TL-Hepes based extender. Keywords : Drone spermatozoa, Bovine serum albumin, Cryopreservation