by Joel Espe for North American Elk, Winter 2008 Edition
In the summer of 2006, I was invited on a tour of Minitube of America’s International Center for Biotechnology in Mt. Horeb, WI. Minitube’s worldwide reputation is based on advancing animal reproduction technologies through research and development, manufacturing and distribution of products and services for artificial insemination (AI), embryo transfer, in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproduction technologies. The International Center for Biotechnology facility is as impressive as the resumes of the staff. In addition to residences for visiting guest scientists, it features laboratories and animal facilities.
Knowing that Minitube is one of the world’s leaders in semen research, I was interested in knowing what their technology could mean to the elk industry. Dr. Brad Didion, PhD was our gracious host and guide. At that time, we discussed using a fresh semen extender with non-frozen or fresh elk semen as can be done with cattle, horses, pigs and dogs. (At the 2006 NAEBA convention, a sign-up sheet was used to check elk breeders’ interest in this type of AI product and the feedback suggested affirmative). On September 1st of this year, Dr. Didion and his colleague Dr. Wayne Bertrand, DVM accompanied Dr. Mike Bringans, DVM during a semen collection at our elk ranch in Monticello, WI. Approximately 0.75cc of fresh elk semen was provided on the first and third semen draws and these samples were equally divided and placed in a variety of fresh semen extenders produced by Minitube. The samples were allowed to incubate at 17-18°C for five days (Day 0 = day of collection), and sperm motility was checked at various time points during the storage period. Initial motility at Day 0 was 98%. Minitube uses state of the art Sperm Vision™ technology to analyze semen. This type of leading edge technology is essential for research in the area of in vitro fertilization, intrauterine insemination and sexed semen.
According to Dr. Didion, four of the eight extenders tested maintained motility through Day 2. Two of the four extenders (Biladyl Fraction A and BoviPRO CryoGuard Fraction A) went out to Day 5 maintaining sperm motility. Biladyl lead the group by maintaining motility at 80%. This is very preliminary and ce rtainly needs further experimentation. Moreover, the temperature of storage would be optimal at 4°C. This storage temperature (4°C) will be examined next time.
After the study of optimal storage temperature is conducted, the next step in the process is to AI using fresh semen in an extender. The non-frozen semen is expected to result in higher conception rates. We are hopeful to complete this step yet this fall. Updates on the progress of this project will be in future newsletters.