MOLECULAR ADVANCES IN SEMEN QUALITY ASSESSMENT AND IMPROVING FERTILITY IN BULLS - A REVIEW

Abstract

Fertility is declining in domestic animals across the world. The reduction in fertility could be attributed to
male, female and managemental factors. Although artificial insemination (AI) using frozen semen emerged 50
years back, fertility rate with AI technology is less and unpredictable. In AI industry, one bull is used to produce at
least three lakh insemination doses; hence, the selection of fertile bulls becomes very important. Since standard
semen evaluation tests are not sufficient to predict bull fertility accurately, the researchers have sought laboratory
assays / molecular tests that would accurately predict the fertilizing potential of a semen sample. In this context,
biotechnological advances in “omic technologies” help to understand the events associated to spermatogenesis,
sperm function, fertilization and embryonic development ending in birth of viable healthy offspring. Profiling
fertility-regulating biomolecules substances in spermatozoa or seminal plasma are considered to be helpful to
predict fertility.