Sperm Sexing in the Cattle Industry

抄録

Sperm sexing using flow cytometry and cell-sorting technology is now available for many mammalian species with approximately 90% accuracy. This technique has been applied only in the cattle livestock industry on a large-scale commercial basis. Frozen straw doses containing sexed bull sperm (usually marketed as ‘sexed semen’) have been sold in many countries for artificial insemination (AI) use. However, the cell-sorting process damages sperm physically/physiologically, consequently compromising fertility results compared to conventionally processed sperm when used for AI or in vitro fertilization (IVF). Also, the production of sexed sperm is still limited and costly. Despite these biological and economic restrictions, sexed semen is widely accepted and the industry is awaiting further refinements to it because of growing demand.