Sex Sorted Semen in Farm Animals and Its Advantages

Selection is an important priority area in farm management which helps in improving the productivity. Pedigree breeding accompanied by newer technologies increase the efficiency and improve the productivity to a greater extent. Sex sorted semen is a revolutionary technology in animal breeding. It helps in increasing the efficiency of dairy and beef production thereby increase the profitability of farms. Use of sex sorted semen help in predetermination of sex with about 90% reliability. In cattle X chromosome bearing sperms contain 3.8% more DNA than Y chromosome bearing sperm which is utilized for the identification of X and Y chromosome bearing sperms. Flow cytometry-based techniques are mostly used for this purpose (Garner et al.,2013). Other than that, other methods like laser splitting of unwanted X and Y chromosomes also been reported (Faust et al.,2016). Flow cytometric separation of two sperm populations was found to be more accurate. In flow cytometry sperms are separated based on the difference in the DNA content for those sperms are labelled with DNA fluorescent dye. After identification and electric charging droplets with single sperm are transferred in to collecting media where it is further processed. Sex sorted semen is mostly used in dairy herds in which traditionally it was limited to heifers. Recent studies have demonstrated that it can be used in heifers and lactating cows (Butler et al., 2014).