Artificial insemination: A tool to improve livestock productivity

Abstract

Artificial insemination (AI) is the manual placement of semen in the reproductive tract of the female by a method other than natural mating which is one of a group of technologies commonly known as “assisted reproduction technologies” (ART), whereby offspring are generated by facilitating the meeting of gametes (spermatozoa and oocytes). AI is by far the most common method of breeding of intensively kept dairy cattle. In developed countries, advances in artificial insemination have already had a major impact on livestock improvement programmes. AI speeds up genetic progress, reduces the risk of disease transmission and expands the number of animals that can be bred from a superior parent. The acceptance of AI technology worldwide provided the impetus for developing other technologies, such as cryopreservation and sexing of sperm, estrous cycle regulation, and embryo harvesting, freezing, culture and transfer, and cloning.