The objective of this study was to clarify whether the most common species of Mycoplasma can be detected in the reproductive organs and the cloaca, as well as in the semen of asymptomatic native Hungarian male geese. As it is necessary for the semen of that breed to be preserved pathogen-free in an in vitro gene-conservation programme, the presence of and sources of infection, as well as prevention of the survival of pathogens following semen cryopreservation, are key issues. Ten asymptomatic, 2-year-old ganders were tested. For the detection of mycoplasmas, samples were taken from both fresh and frozen/thawed semen, cloaca, phallus lymph, testes and vas deferens; that is five samples from each of the 10 ganders. The semen was statically frozen using dimethyl-formamide as a cryoprotectant and stored in liquid nitrogen at -196°C. Species-specific PCR systems targeting M. anserisalpingitidis, M. anseris and M. cloacale were used for screening and identification. Results of this study have shown, for the first time, that (1) among the three Mycoplasma species examined, all were detectable in the indigenous Hungarian ganders, with no clinical signs; (2) the pathogens could be detected in the cloaca, in both fresh and cryopreserved semen samples, but remained undetected within the inner reproductive organs; and (3) as pathogens were able to survive the freezing/storing/thawing procedures, the possibility of vertical transmission of the pathogens during artificial inseminations does exist, which causes problems in the in vitro gene-conservation programmes for this breed.
Keywords: Mycoplasma; cryopreservation; gander reproductive organs; geese; gene conservation; semen.