Effects of Room Temperature Storage Duration on the Quality of Cauda Epididymal Spermatozoa Recovered from Red Sokoto Bucks

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Objectives: The conservation of valuable genetic resources in livestock is essential for sustainable breeding programs, particularly when superior breeding males die unexpectedly before semen collection. This study evaluated the quality of cauda epididymal spermatozoa recovered from Red Sokoto Bucks immediately after slaughter and following storage of testes-epididymides at room temperature. Material and Methods: Forty pairs of testes-epididymides were collected from apparently healthy mature Red Sokoto Bucks and randomly assigned to four storage periods: 0, 6, 12, and 24 h at 22–28°C. Spermatozoa were recovered from the cauda epididymis by the incision method and assessed for mass motility, concentration, viability, acrosomal integrity, plasma membrane integrity, and morphological abnormalities. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s post hoc test at P < 0.05. Results: The outcome showed that sperm mass motility decreased significantly with increasing storage duration, declining from 86.00% ± 1.25% at 0 h to complete loss of motility at 24 h. Sperm concentration was significantly lower in all stored groups compared with the 0-h group, although no differences were observed among the 6-, 12-, and 24-h groups. Viability, acrosomal integrity, and plasma membrane integrity remained comparable between the 0- and 6-h groups but declined significantly after 12 h of storage. Complete loss of sperm viability and plasma membrane integrity occurred after 24 h. Head and tail abnormalities were not significantly affected by storage duration, whereas midpiece abnormalities were significantly reduced after 24 h. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that cauda epididymal spermatozoa recovered from Red Sokoto Bucks retained acceptable quality characteristics for up to 6 h of postmortem storage at room temperature, thus indicating their potential usefulness for assisted reproductive applications.