Investigations on different methods of deer sperm cryopreservation

Abstract

The genetic potential of the red deer (Cervus elaphus hippelaphus) and fallow deer (Dama dama) populations in Hungary are well known. Conserving the variability in this excellent genetic material for game preservation and breeding is one of our most important tasks. The aim of this study was to investigate different methods of deer sperm cryopreservation. Sperm samples were collected from the epididymides of shot males. The qualitative evaluation of post-thawed sperm samples performed by Kovács and Foote staining procedure. As results showed, both tris-yolk and Triladyl diluters, and both programmable and handling freezers are suitable of the deer sperm cryopreservation. Moreover, our plan is to develop a deer frozen sperm bank.