Frozen Semen Processing and Quality Control

Due primarily to the fact that breeders select stallions for breeding based on performance, confirmation and pedigree with little regard for reproductive efficiency, the general stallion population includes numerous valuable stallions with poor reproductive efficiency. A stallion may be subfertile in a frozen or cooled semen program and exhibit normal fertility in fresh AI or natural mating conditions. It is nowadays almost impossible to collect objective and reliable fertility data from the field, like first cycle, per cycle and even seasonal pregnancy rate. This happens particularly when mares are inseminated with cooled or frozen semen shipped internationally. Monitoring fertility of breeding stallions in AI programs with cryopreserved semen begins with the identification of the semen freezing technique that allows to produce the best possible semen quality from a given stallion. In fact, providing the equine breeding industry with high quality semen should lead to achieve the optimum level of fertility in the field. In order to guarantee the highest level of fertility from a stallion, semen parameters should be regularly checked by performing a strict post-thaw quality control on each batch of semen that is processed for freezing. This abstract will focus on how semen should be processed for freezing, so to obtain the optimum semen quality that will inevitably help the practitioner to obtain the highest level of fertility for a given stallion. […]