MAP-5 INTRODUCTION

MAP-5

potential increase in pregnancies with frozen semen from low fertility stallions

INTRODUCTION

Successful breeding with frozen stallion semen is currently quite variable. Conception rates range from 30% - 70% and vary greatly with the fertility of the stallion, the freezing ability of the semen, cryopreservative used and the technician performing the collection & freezing.

A previous study by Ottier & Palasz using an equine cryopreservative semen extender containing MAP-5, demonstrated a 7% increase in the binding of thawed sperm to equine hemizona from a highly fertile stallion (100% conception with frozen sperm, in clinically normal mares, during the 1999 breeding season).

In an atttempt to reproduce these results & examine the effects of MAP-5 on cryopreservation of low fertility stallions, an in vitro study, with semen from three stallions was conducted.