Factors Affecting Conception Rate in Artificial

Insemination of Cattle and Buffaloes

Dr. Kedar Karki (M. V.St. (PREVENTIVE VET. MEDICINE).
Background.
Artificial Insemination (Al) with ctrozen semen contributes sign ficantly to the cross
breeding and upgrading of cattle and buffaloes. For more than 50 years, Al has had the
greatest contribution in increasing milk and meat production. However, its coverage in
India is still assumed to be ranging between 10-15% of the cattle and buffalo population.
The obvious reason for this poor coverage is low conception rate (CR) with Al, but why
Al. There is a consensus among researchers that natural service gives better CR than Al,
but why it should be so, is uncertain because the success of Al depends upon a lot many
factors such as fertility of the semen, time of insemination, skill of inseminator besides
the management of females (Hafez, 1993). The purpose of this paper is to focus those
factors that affect the CR in Al of cattle and buffaloes along with remedial measures.
Male factors
Bulls should be selected based on pedigree and physical conformation tests. It should be
tree from diseases like Brucellosis vibriosis, trichomaniasis, tuberculosis etc. Once the
bull passes through these tests, it should be subjected to routine semen analysis, Now-a-
days, improved in vitro fertility tests like cervical mucus sperm swelling test, zona free
hamster oocyte test etc., are available for predicting the fertility of bulls. However, the
fertility of bulls should be confirmed by it vivo fertility trials. Spermatozoa have better
freezability. After that, they can be used for routine semen collection, preservation and
insemination.
Female factors
1. Congenital defects
There are due to arrested development of different segments of reproductive tract. This
may vary from mild hypoplasia to complete lack of a particular part of reproductive
tract. Even though most of them can be ruled out by rectal examination, some defects
like arrested oviductal development etc., should be conformed to special tests.
Tubal blockage can be diagnosed by injecting 10 ml of 0.1% phenol red solution intra
uterine in one horn preferably at the tip of the horn and urine is collected after half an
hour to with in three hours by catheterization. If the colour of urine is pink, the tube is
patent and if no pink colour appears, then it is diagnosed as tubal blockage. The same
test is to be repeated in the next horn.
2. Acquired defects
Acquired defects are caused by auma or infection, particularly at the time of
parturition. Uterine infections cause embryo loss by the following ways:

 direct killing of embryos,

 changing the nature of uterine milk,
 accumulation of toxic products,
 release of PGF2 alpha which causes lysis of corpus luteum
 Producing chronic histological lesions.
Hence, infection should be ruled out before insemination. Subclinical infections may be
identified by white side test and proper antibiotic should be infused. Recently, several
alternative therapies have been introduced for treating endometritis in bovines If
infection is mild, post-insemination antibiotic therapy may be useful.
3. Hormonal factors
i) Sub oestrus: It poses problems in identifying oestrus and proper time of insemination.
The incidence of suboestrus in buffaloes varies between 10-11% in organized farms and
between 30-60% in villages. No systematic studies have been conducted in buffaloes to
explore various predisposing factors, but many hypotheses have been put forth like: the
suboestrus may be due to lack of secretion of oestradiol by the mature follicle of due to
need for a higher threshold for oestrogen. During summer months it has been postulated
that CL does not regress fully and hence the animal become suboestrus. It may be
overcome by oeotrus detection with teaser, or fixed time insemination PGF2a is to be
administered at 6-16 days of oestrous cycle and insemination should be done between 72
and 96th hr after injection.
ii) Delayed ovulation and anovulation: Normally ovulation takes place in cattle and
buffaloes 10-14 hrs after the end of oestrus. Delayed ovulation means ovulation at more
than 24 hrs after the end of oestrus when most of the sperm cells lose their fertilizing
ability resulting in failure of conception. In an ovulation, animal shows normal
behavioural oestrus and ovarian follicle reaches preovulatory size, but fails to ovulate. It
will be partly leutinized and regressed if not it become cystic. This is due to impairment
in LH secretion.
In suspected cases, the ovary should be examined gently for the presence of follicle on
the day of oestrus, day 2 and day 10 th of oestrus cycle. If follicle is present on day 1 and
2, and a CL is presenting on day 10 in the same place of the ovary, then it is a case of
delayed ovulation. Whereas in an ovulation of only follicle is present on all the 3 days of
examination, it is anovulation. However the treatment is same for both the cases.
Administration of LH of HCG (1500lU) at the time of insemination will be helpful in
treating these conditions.
iii) Defect in sperm transport: Deficiency of oxytocin, which causes contraction of
uterus, may lead to falure of fertilization because the sperins may not reach the site of
fertilization at proper time. In these cases administration of 10-20 IU i/v or 30-50 IU i/m
of oxytocin just before insemination may be helpful. Clitoral massage after insemination
may also cause secretion of oxytocin, and increased conception rate significantly (57%
versus 45%) in crossbred zebu heifers.
iv) Luteal insufficiency: If progresterone deficiency occurs, the uterine milk will not be
of proper quality and can cause death of embryo, or due to alteration in oestrgen:
progesterone ratio, the fertilized ovum will reach uterus early. It is difficult to identify
such case clinteally. However, if one feels the other causes are ruled out, this condition
may be suspected. Administration of 1500 IU of HCG or LH on the day of Al can cause
formation of more luteal tissue and hence avoid deficiency of progesterone.
Managemental Factors
1. Nutritional factors
Vitamin A, phosphorus and protein have an important bearing on reproduction in farm
animals. Protein inadequacy has an important bearing on survival of embryos and
development of fetus in domestic animals. Feeding low protein diet has adverse effects
on ovulation rate. In buffalo heifers 4.00 inseminations/conception is recorded in
protein deficient as compared to 2.66 inseminations conception in normally fed animals.
Similarly, a higher plane of nutrition has been reported to be associated with decreased
fertility. High protein of energy intake have a stimulating effect n hepatic blood flow
which influences the metabolic clearance of progesterone causing its decrease to an
extent that may compromise embryonic survival and growth. Hence animals should be
fed with balanced ration at proper quantity.
2. Post-partum breeding
Conception following breeding of cows and buffaloes at varying intervals after calving is
associated with factors like involution of uterus, milk yield, season of calving, etc. In a
normal herd, it seems desirable to breed cows and buffaloes at 45-60 days post-partum.
There are chances that the embryo may die or fail to develop to full term when animals
are inseminated before proper involution of uterus. Under pastoral conditions neither
conceptions are observed when the cows and buffaloes were inseminated at 45-60 and
60-90 days post-partum, respectively.
3. Estrus detection
The single most important problem limiting high reproduction efficiency in a herd is
poor detection of oestrus. falsely recorded oestrus can mislead the inseminator and if
the animal is inseminated, it is not only a mere wastage of money but also there is every
chance of making the animal infected when insemination is dine at luteal phase,
because under the influence of Progesterone, uterus has a very low resistance to
pathogens.
4. Time of insemination
The most important primary requisite to obtain high conception rate is inseminating
cows and buffaloes at appropriate tine. Duration of oestrus in cow ranges from 12 to 24
hrs and in buffaloes from 12 to 30 hrs. Best conception rates were obtained if
insemination was done at mid heat to late heat. Optimum conception rates were
obtained in cattle and buffaloes when inseminations were done at 12-18 hrs and 16-24
hrs respectively, after the onset of oestrus.
If inseminations are done too early of too late, aging of gametes may lead to
fertilization failure of atypical fertilization of embryonic death. Hence, animals should
be inseminated at proper time.
5. Insemination method
Inseminations should be done by a well trained person with all precautions from semen
loading to deposition in female reproductive tract. The semen should be slowly
deposited into cervix (in early heat), while in late mid heat or early late heat the entire
quantity is deposited at the internal os of cervix of into the uterine horn having a follicle
in the ovary on that side. Later procedure needs more skill to do without damage to the
endometrium.
6. Temperament of animals
Cows and buffaloes with nervous temperament may be restless of under stress at the
time of insemination and require more number of inseminations/conception due to
secretion of adrenaline which has an antagonizing effect on oxytocin. Hence, the
gamete transport is impaired. Therefore, the animals which are to be treated gently
without causing any excitation or stress to get optimum conception rates.
Important:

 Keep complete breeding records

 Do not bred young animals until they are sufficiently mature.
 Provide sufficient rest period between pregnancies, don't breed too early in post
partum period.
 Observe females carefully for oestrus signs in case of silent oestrus.
 Inseminate at the proper time adopting a proper method by a proper person.
Think AI will be successful if you consider it involves man machine and management.
dr-kedarkarki@hotmail.com