Abstract

Fertility data from 327 artificial inseminations (AIs) using frozen-thawed dog semen are presented here. The AIs were performed in 274 bitches using semen from 185 males of 76 breeds. The data cover all AIs conducted during 1983 through 1995 at Cryogenetic Laboratories (CLONE) in the United States with AKC-registered and research bitches, and all AIs carried out at the Department-of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden, using semen frozen by CLONE, in 0.5-mL straws. Semen was frozen using a standardized, three-step liquid nitrogen vapor freezing method. Whelping rates >70% were obtained when post-thaw motility was 40% or higher. The inseminations were made either directly into the uterus using:transcervical catheterization with the Norwegian catheter (NIU; 167 Als) or a fiberoptic endoscope (EIU; 19 AIs), or in the cranial vagina (VAG; 141 AIs). Resulting whelping rates were 84.4% (NIU), 58.9% (VAG; P<0.001), and 57.9% (EIU). Increasing the number of VAG AIs per cycle from 1 to 2 enhanced the whelping rate (P<0.05). The mean interval from the first AI to whelping was 61.8 +/- 2.4 d, and was longer for VAG AIs (62.7 +/- 2.7 d) than for NIU AIs (61.2 +/- 2.1 d; P<0.001). The mean interval from the last AI was 60.1 +/- 1.9 d, and aid not differ between VAG AIs (60.2 +/- 2.2 d) and WW AIs (60.0 +/- 1.6 d). Gestation length was not influenced by breed or litter size. a total of 1158 pups resulted from the 327 AIs. Litter size was 5.4 +/- 3.0 (NIU), 3.0 +/- 2.7 (VAG; P<0.001), and 6.0 +/- 2.1 (EIU). Litter size was also influenced by breed (P=0.006) and, for VAG Als, by the number of inseminations performed per cycle (P=0.009). This study is the largest that has been carried out on frozen-thawed dog semen AI. It shows that using a good method for cryopreservation, together with nonsurgical intrauterine AI employing the Norwegian catheter, can yield whelping rates and litter sizes similar to those reported from well-controlled natural matings. Furthermore, this is the first study to show that intrauterine deposition of frozen-thawed dog semen results in a significantly higher whelping rate and larger litter size than vaginal deposition. (C) 1999 by Elsevier Science Inc.

Keywords

dog; frozen semen; artificial insemination; fertility; sex ratio

Published in

Theriogenology
1999, Volume: 52, number: 1, pages: 11-23
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

SLU Authors

• Linde-Forsberg, Catharina

  • Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Ström Holst, Bodil

  • Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Clinical Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0093-691X(99)00106-5

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/43141