The effect of bee honey and/or royal jelly (RJ) addition to tris-based extender on the motility, viability, abnormalities and fertilizing capacity of New Zealand White (NZW) rabbit spermatozoa was studied. Pooled semen was processed in tris-based extenders containing ascending concentrations (v/v) of bee honey (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7.5 and 10% of diluent) and descending concentrations (v/v) of egg yolk (20. 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 12.5 and 10%). RJ was added to tris-buffer extender with 2% bee honey and 18% egg yolk (EY), the concentrations (w/v) of RJ were 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 mg/6 mL diluent. Dilution rate was 1: 6 (1 semen + 5 extender) with final concentration of 30 × 106 spermatozoa / 0.5 mL diluted semen. Diluted semen samples were stored in aliquots at 5ºC up to 216 h (9 days). Diluted semen was evaluated at 0, 2, 4, 6, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, 168, 192 and 216 h during cooled storage. Fertilizing capacity represented in conception rate% and litter size at birth/doe of stored diluted semen was examined at 0, 24, 72, 120 and 168 h after storage at 5ºC.
Obtained results showed that NZW rabbit semen diluted with extenders having either 10 or 20 mg RJ / 6 mL tris based extender containing 2% bee honey and 18% EY could be used beneficially within a week when stored at 5ºC for artificial insemination (AI), which would facilitate commercial distribution. In conclusion, the addition of bee honey and RJ in rabbit semen diluents improved both semen quality and fertilizing capacity when stored at 5ºC.
Conclusively, the results of the present study suggested that the addition of bee honey and RJ to rabbit semen diluents improved both semen quality and fertilizing capacity during storage at 5ºC. These results revealed that NZW rabbit semen diluted with extenders that contained 10 or 20 mg RJ / 6mL tris-basal extender having 2% bee honey and 18% EY beneficially used within a week when stored at 5ºC for AI. The previous results showed a significant positive effect on the quality of stored semen, which would facilitate commercial distribution.