A Steak in Genomics™

Joe Dalton University of Idaho Sperm attributes necessary for fertilitization: Acceptable morphology Metabolism for production of energy Progressive motility Capacity for hyperactive motility Stabilization of plasma and acrosomal membrane lipids Acrosomal enzymes Chromatin integrity More is not always better. 1/2 cc straws are not better than 1/4 cc straws. How many sperm cells are needed to get a female pregnant? It depends. Different bulls have different sperm fertility. There are compensable semen traits, such as mis-shaped sperm, that compromise sperm quality. Increasing sperm number can compensate for this. There are incompensable semen traits, such as genetic inviablity, that compromise sperm quality. Increasing sperm number cannont compensate for these traits. They used Angus bulls on Nelore cows to look at the effect of sperm dose. They used 10 million, 20 million, 20 million, and 40 million sperm per straw. They put each of these treatments in different ...