Thymus satureioides and Origanum majorana essential oils improve the quality of Beni Arouss buck semen during storage at 4°C

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of essential oils (EOs), extracted from Thymus satureioides (TS) and Origanum majorana (OM), on Beni Arouss buck semen quality stored in skimmed milk at 4°C. EOs were extracted by hydro‐distillation, and the chemical compounds were determined. Ejaculates were collected from six Beni Arouss bucks, once a week for 10 weeks, and they were pooled, divided into five equal aliquots and diluted to 400 × 106 sperm/ml with skimmed milk supplemented with 0.01% of OM EO, 0.01% of TS EO, 0.05% of OM EO and 0.05% of TS EO. Non‐supplemented skimmed milk was considered as a control. Semen motility, kinematic parameters, viability, abnormality, membrane integrity and lipid peroxidation were evaluated at 0, 4, 8, 24, 28, 32 and 48 hr of liquid storage at 4°C. The main EO components were carvacrol (31.7%), thymol (28.0%) and borneol (14.4%) for TS, and terpinene‐4‐ol (31.2%), γ‐terpinene (17.4%) and α‐terpinene (12.7%) for OM. The results highlighted a dose‐dependent effect of TS and OM EOs on all semen quality parameters. 0.01% of both EOs had a beneficial effect on the sperm preservation stored at 4°C compared with control (p < .05) excepted for the straight‐line velocity. The 0.05% EO addition had harmful effects during storage particularly for TS EO. In conclusion, 0.01% of TS and OM EOs are recommended to improve the Beni Arouss buck semen preservation at 4°C.

Effects ofOriganum majoranaessential oil and antibiotics on the quality of frozen thawed Beni Arouss buck semen

“…This toxicity is probably due to the interaction of hydrophobic molecules of OM EO with phospholipids and proteins in sperm membranes, which could adversely affect its morphology and membrane permeability and integrity (Chikhoune et al, 2015). Several studies have reported the harmful effect of EOs on semen quality with concentrations above 0.03%, such as OM (Kchikich et al, 2021), and Thymus munbyanus (Chikhoune et al, 2015). Motility, live sperm, morphology and membrane integrity are of fundamental importance in assessing sperm quality (Pande & Srivastava, 2017).…”

“…The protective effect of skim milk supplemented by 0.02% of OM EO on motility, viability, morphology and integrity could be due to the antioxidant properties of terpinene-4ol (31.18%), γ-terpinene (17.68%) and α-Terpinene (12.69%) which are the main components of OM EO (Kchikich et al, 2021). Previous studies highlighted that the inclusion of different protective agents, such as tocopherols, glutathione (Sarangi et al, 2017) and phytoextracts (Kchikich et al, 2021) with antioxidant properties, is suitable to improve total and progressive motility, viability, integrity, morphology and lipid peroxidation. Correlation results for treatments without antibiotics revealed that lipid peroxidation level was negatively correlated with motility, viability, integrity and positively with sperm abnormalities.…”

“…The aerial part of OM was obtained from Larache experimental station of INRA located in the Northern Morocco (35°8′N, 6°8′W), and the EO extraction was carried out as described by Kchikich et al (2021). The free radical scavenging activity of each extender was determined, immediately after their preparation, using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and replicated 10 times.…”

“…OM essential oil (EO) has a very potent antimicrobial and antioxidant properties (Hajlaoui et al, 2016). Added at 0.01% to skim milk-based extender, OM EO is useful to improve the conservation of buck semen at 4°C (Kchikich et al, 2021). To the authors' knowledge, the effects of OM EO on post-thawed quality of buck semen have not yet been studied.…”

Cooling of porcine semen in an extender supplemented with carvacrol

“…The effect of essential oils with 31% carvacrol has also been evaluated on buck semen, where a concentration of 0.01% of essential oil had a beneficial effect on the preservation of semen stored at 4°C (Kchikich et al, 2021). Additionally, this molecule has been studied as an antibiotic in boar semen, with a concentration-dependent effect on sperm motility (Frydrychová et al, 2012).…”