american semen falls short on promise of delivering female calves - indian express

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American semen falls short on promise ofdelivering female calvesSukhdeep Kaur : Chandigarh, Tue Jun 25 2013, 03:38 hrs

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For a technology that guarantees 90 per cent chances of femaleoffspring in cows, the sexed up semen imported from the USA, is justnot upto the mark when it comes to doing the job in Punjab.

The semen, from the best and fittest American bulls, imported by thestate animal husbandry department and dairy farmers' associationfor a hefty sum, is facing problems of virility.

The animal husbandry department had last year imported 5,000doses of sexed semen from leading artificial inseminationcooperatives in the US. The animal breeding solution guaranteed 90per cent female offspring. The Punjab Progressive Dairy Farmers'Association was its largest importer in the country with nearly20,000 doses.

However, the sperm count in the costlier sexed semen is one-tenth ofthe normal. So, against a conception rate of up to 45 to 50 per cent ina dose of normal semen, it averages to less than 30 per cent in secondand subsequent pregnancies with sexed semen. In the firstpregnancy, the success rate has been up to 40 per cent.

The difference in cost is 10-fold. Each sexed semen dose costs a dairy

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animal husbandry department says the problem lies with the semen sorting technology. "The spermcount in sexed semen is 2 million compared to nearly 20 million in normal semen. In sexed semen,lots of sperm is wasted during chromosome sorting - the X (female) chromosomes of bulls areseparated from the Y (male) and the latter are simply discarded. Since millions of sperms arewasted, it brings the conception rate down," says animal husbandry director H S Sandha.

Despite the low conception rates, many still line up for the sexed semen. The department this yearwould be placing an order for 30,000 doses. The stock, says Sandha, will last for six months to one

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american semen falls short on promise of delivering female calves - indian express

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