Comparison of culture media for their effects on development of caprine IVF embryos using fresh and cryopreserved semen

The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of two culture media on in vitro fertilized embryo produced by fresh and cryopreserved buck semen respectively. The in vitro fertilized embryos from both semen sources were cultured separately in the two media groups viz., Research Vitro Cleave-BSA (RVCL-BSA) and RVCL-Blast-BSA media. Under RVCL-BSA medium, the fresh semen produced higher rates of cleavage (68.94±1.86 vs 65.62±2.34) and significantly higher (P≤0.05) morula (27.89±1.18 vs 23.84±2.23), blastocysts (15.26±0.67 vs 13.07±1.17) and blastomeric counts (232.65±14.26 vs 218.34 ± 10.26) than cryopreserved semen. The similar developmental patterns were exhibited in RVCL-Blast-BSA medium in which the fresh semen showed significantly higher (P≤0.05) rates of morula (38.94 ± 2.37 vs 31.87±2.10), blastocysts (29.89 ± 2.02 vs 25.31 ± 1.78) and blastomeric count (272.45 ± 16.54 vs 248.85 ± 14.38). This study concludes that the RVCL-Blast-BSA medium produced significantly higher (P≤0.05) embryonic developmental rates in comparison to RVCL-BSA medium irrespective of semen sources and the fresh semen afforded better fertilization rates than cryopreserved semen in both culture groups.