Artificial insemination would be a useful technique for alpaca breeders to use as an aid to breeding to increase fleece quality. The technique, however, is not well developed in alpacas, partly because of the viscous nature of their seminal plasma. Castration conducted for husbandry purposes can provide a source of epididymal spermatozoa to test semen extenders or handling regimens, thus circumventing the problem of the viscous ejaculate. In this experiment, two semen extenders (Andromed and INRA96) developed for other species (bovine and equine, respectively) were tested with alpaca spermatozoa derived from the cauda epididymis. Sperm total motility (mean ± SEM A: 29.1 ± 4.8 % compared with I: 35.4 ± 4.8 %; NS), membrane integrity (A: 58 ± 9% compared with I: 56 ± 9%; NS) and acrosome integrity (A: 65 ± 7% compared with I: 54 ± 7%; NS) were not different between the two extenders. Progressive motility with use of INRA96 was greater after incubating for 30 min than after incubating for 10 min (35 ± 4% vs. 12 ± 4%, respectively; P = 0.03). In conclusion, viable epididymal spermatozoa could be extracted from the castrated organs after overnight transport. There were no differences in sperm quality between the two extenders; therefore, it appears that either extender could be used for alpaca spermatozoa. These results could help in the development of a technique for artificial insemination in alpacas.

人工授精对于羊驼育种者来说是一种有用的技术，可用作育种的辅助手段，以提高羊毛质量。然而，该技术在羊驼中并未得到很好的发展，部分原因是它们的精浆具有粘性。为畜牧目的进行的阉割可以提供附睾精子的来源，以测试精液稀释剂或处理方案，从而避免粘稠射精的问题。在该实验中，用来自附睾尾的羊驼精子测试了为其他物种（分别为牛和马）开发的两种精液补充剂（Andromed 和 INRA96）。精子总活力（平均值 ± SEM A：29.1 ± 4.8 % 与 I：35.4 ± 4.8 %；NS 相比），膜完整性（A：58 ± 9% 与 I：56 ± 9% 相比；NS) 和顶体完整性 (A: 65 ± 7% 与 I: 54 ± 7% 相比; NS ) 在两种扩展剂之间没有差异。孵育 30 分钟后使用 INRA96 的渐进运动比孵育 10 分钟后更大（分别为 35 ± 4% 与 12 ± 4%；P = 0.03）。总之，在过夜转运后，可以从阉割的器官中提取出活的附睾精子。两种延长剂之间的精子质量没有差异；因此，这两种扩展剂似乎都可用于羊驼精子。这些结果有助于开发羊驼人工授精技术。