Fertility of Commercial Sexed Semen and the Economic Analyses of its Application in Holstein Heifers

Abstract

| The aim of the current study was to evaluate the fertility of commercially available sexed semen and to economically analyse three assumed strategies for its application in Holstein heifers. In the first part of the study, a total of 426 heifers were inseminated with sexed semen from 7 bulls and 325 heifers were inseminated with unsexed semen from 5 bulls. The pregnancy at 40 and 90 days post insemination, the embryonic loss, the calving, the abortion and the heifer calves rates were calculated. Heifers inseminated with sexed semen had significantly lower (P<0.001) pregnancy-40, pregnancy-90 and calving rates (34, 32.2 and 29.3%; respectively) than those inseminated with unsexed semen (62.5, 57.8 and 51.1%; respectively). The embryonic loss and abortion rates were similar in heifers inseminated with sexed and unsexed semen. There was a clear effect for bull on pregnancy, embryonic loss and abortion rates in sexed and unsexed semen. In the second part of the study, it was assumed that heifers will be inseminated with sexed semen once, twice or repeatedly till achieving 88% calving rate. The economic impact of the three sexed semen application strategies was compared to the unsexed strategy. The sexed once, the sexed twice and the sexed wide strategies achieved 8.7, 8.1 and 13.8% increase in the calf crop return; respectively. In conclusion, even with lower fertility, application of sexed semen could add numerous benefits to the dairy herds. Adv. Anim. Vet. Sci. 2 (9): 535-542.

Evaluation of sexed semen‐based artificial insemination in Tharparkar cattle under organized farm condition

“…A field study conducted in 940 AI centres of Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF, Pune) covering 147 districts under seven states of India showed an overall CR of 39.92 percent using sex‐sorted semen (Joshi et al, 2021). Furthermore, the overall CR obtained in the present study was more or less similar to the past studies (Cerchiaro et al, 2007; Dejarnette et al, 2011; Djedović et al, 2016; Sharma et al, 2018, 2019), except a few (Abdalla, 2014; Healy et al, 2013; Joshi et al, 2021; Norman et al, 2010; Patel & Jethva, 2019) in which the CR obtained following the use of sexed semen was lower (25%–39.9%). Unlike previous studies, better CR obtained after the use of sexed semen in our study might be attributed to the younger animals used, frequency and timing of AI, skill of AI personnel, service number, etc.…”

“…Yet, when compared with conventional semen (data unpublished) used during the same period, the CR obtained with sexed semen was approximately 8.9% lower in the present study. A similar tendency of lower CR with sex‐sorted (21%–39%) and sexed semen (10%–30%) was well documented in previous reports (Abdalla, 2014; DeJarnette et al, 2011; Healy et al, 2013; Norman et al, 2010; Rhinehart et al, 2011; Weigel, 2004). A field study conducted in 940 AI centres of Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF, Pune) covering 147 districts under seven states of India showed an overall CR of 39.92 percent using sex‐sorted semen (Joshi et al, 2021).…”

The reproductive success of bovine sperm after sex-sorting: a meta-analysis

“…Outcome: PR Pregnancy rate (pregnancies/insemination), CR calving rate (births/insemination), AR Abortion rate (abortions/pregnancy), NRR Non-return rate 24–60 days after insemination, SBR Stillbirth rate (stillbirths/birth), SBR-M Stillbirth rate in male calves, SBR-F Stillbirth rate in female calves. Publications Population [cow/heifer (breed), inseminations management)] Semen Outcome (%) Conventional Sexed 1) Abdalla et al 2014 49 Heifers (H), n c = 325, n s = 426, E FZ PR 62, CR 51, AR 11 PR 34, CR 29, AR 8 2) An et al 2010 50 Heifers (H), n c = 26, n s = 36, E FZ PR 58 PR 53 3) Andersson et al 2006 41 Cows (HF), n c = 149, n s = 157, E FZ PR 46, CR 44, SBR 5 PR 21, CR 20, SBR 6 4) Bodmer et al 2005a 51 Cows (BS + RH), n c = 64, n s = 105, E FZ PR 28, CR 25, AR 6 PR 28, CR 22, AR 17 5) Bodmer et al 2005b 51 Heifers (BS + RH), n c = 27, n s = 27, E FZ PR 59, CR 58, AR 0 PR 33, CR 30, AR 11 6) Borchersen et al 2009a 52 Heifers (DRD), n c = 153, n s = 530, E FZ NRR 76, PR 65, CR 63, SBR 5, SBR-M 12, SBR-F 0, NRR 67, PR 60, CR 56, SBR 6, SBR-M 21, SBR-F 4 7) Borchersen et al 2009b 52 Heifers (H), n ...…”

Potential Use of Tannin Extracts as Additives in Semen Destined for Cryopreservation: A Review

“…Despite having satisfactory fertility testing in terms of fresh-stored semen, the frozen-thawed semen of some animal species does not meet standards of acceptable fertilisation results suitable for commercial AI programmes [38,39]. Accumulated evidence indicates that inherent male progeny variability is one of the factors in semen cryopreservation responsible for the marked differences in sperm cryo-survival [37][38][39][40]. Individual differences in sperm quality and cryo-survival are addressed by ongoing efforts to identify gene variants and differentially expressed sperm proteins associated with either high or low sperm cryotolerance in livestock species [41,42].…”