The objectives of this study were to assess the cooling and freezing of donkey epididymal semen harvested immediately after castration (Experiment 1, n = 4) or after the shipment (24 or 48 h) of epididymides attached to testicles (Experiment 2, n = 14) or dissected apart (Experiment 3, n = 36). In each experiment, semen was frozen immediately (Non-Centrif) in an egg yolk-based semen extender (EY) or after processing through cushion-centrifugation (Centrif) while extended in a skim milk-based extender (SC). In all three experiments, cooled, pre-freeze, and post-thaw epididymal semen was assessed for total motility (TM), progressive motility (PM), plasma membrane integrity (PMI), and high mitochondrial membrane potential (HMMP). Data were analyzed with R using mixed models and Tukey's test as posthoc. Results showed that the cooling of epididymal semen up to 24 h after harvesting did not affect motility parameters or plasma membrane integrity; furthermore, in Experiment 3, the post-thaw evaluation of both Centrif and Non-Centrif achieved similar TM and PM. Collectively, the post-thaw results revealed low motility parameters across groups; while, the PMI and HMMP did not reflect this trend, and the values remained high, suggesting that there was a lack of epididymal sperm activation with either centrifugation or extenders. In summary, freshly harvested and cooled-shipped and cooled semen had satisfactory semen parameters. Future studies need to address donkey epididymal semen fertility in mares and jennies.
Keywords: castration; cooled-shipped epididymides; epididymis; semen cryopreservation; testis.