It is known that ram's sperms are sensitive to oxidative stress during cooling storage. The purpose of this study was the evaluation of adding an aqueous prickly pear extract (PPE) in ram semen on sperm parameters during cooling storage. Three levels of PPE were added to the diluted ram semen (PPE1=5mg +Tris extender, PPE2=10 mg +Tris extender, and PPE3=30 mg +Tris extender), and compared with control group (Tris extender without addition of PPE). Motility of sperm, hypo osmotic swelling test (HOS-Test), and dead sperm percentage were assessed after 2 and 48 hour at preservation. The PPE2 group exhibited the significantly (p≤0.05) enhanced sperm motility at 2 and 48 hour of cooling. A non-significant (p>0.05) increase in HOS-test percentage for all groups after 2 hours of cooling was observed. The PPE1 and PPE3 groups recorded the lowest percentage of HOS-test after 48 hours, however, groups PPE2 and the control recorded the significant (p≤0.05) excess in this characteristic. The sperm dead percentage were reduced by adding 10 mg of prickly pear extract (PPE2) in comparison with other groups at 2 hours post-cooling. The aqueous prickly pear extract has the potential to be used as an additive in ram semen to improve sperm motility, plasma membrane integrity, and dead sperm percentage at cooling preservation.

The study was executed to investigate the different cooling periods (0, 24, and 48 hours) effects on plasma membrane integrity depending on the hypo osmotic swelling test (HOST), spermatozoa motility, acrosome integrity, live sperm, and spermatozoa abnormalities, and correlation among the Host and other rams sperm parameters This study was done at an animal farm in Al-Kut city (southern Baghdad city\ Iraq), from 5th January to 5th February 2021 The semen was collected from four mature Arrabi rams (2-4 years old) by using an artificial vagina to the evaluation of semen characteristics The results exhibited a significant (p≤005) effect of the cooling times of the rams semen parameters, on the other hand, there is a highly significant (P≤001) correlation (positive) among host, acrosome integrity, live sperm, and spermatozoa motility (r = 100, 099, 095) respectively However, the results explained the significant (P≤005) correlation (negative) between host and spermatozoa abnormalities (r = -100) In conclusion, there are a relatively significant effect of the cooling periods and Arrabi ram semen parameters and there is a significant correlation between host and other sperm characteristics during different times of cooling