Semen characteristics and artificial insemination in dromedary camels

Artificial insemination (AI) in the dromedary camel is not a standardized procedure. Semen can be collected from male camels by mounting of males in a crouched posture on a sitting estrus female using a bull artificial vagina (AV). The camel semen volume ranges from 2 to 13 mL and has pH between 7.0 to 8.0 and sperm concentration varying widely usually between 200-600×106 (sperm/mL). A practical difficulty in the evaluation of camel semen is the presence of a thick gel that liquefies slowly (90 min to 24 h). There is a lack of consensus on a suitable diluent for use with camel semen although many diluents have been evaluated and Tris buffers have been considered satisfactory. Short-term preservation of camel semen at 5 0C has resulted in a very few pregnancies and pregnancy outcomes of cryopreserved semen are extremely low. Fertility rates with natural mating in camels are also low, around 50%. Problems of conception with AI in camels lie both with the female (inconspicuous estrus, and estrus signs, and mating induced ovulation), and male (low volume of semen, presence of a thick viscous gel in semen, and the poor survival of spermatozoa in most diluents on chilling and cryopreservation). Crossbreeding camels has occurred with natural mating, but records are unavailable. Camel hybrids between Bactrian and Dromedary camels with natural mating has been popular in many countries of Central Asia, and Middle East since long and still practiced in Turkey and Kazakhstan. It was concluded that semen can be satisfactorily collected from male camels using a bull AV, however, due to high viscosity, semen evaluation can only be done after its liquefaction. Camel semen can be extended using a wide variety of diluents including tris egg-yolk citrate however, motility of spermatozoa declines within 24 to 48 h of storage at 4 °C. Cryopreservation of camel semen has not yielded satisfactory results and more studies are needed. AI in camel also has some inherent barriers related to the physiology of male and female. Camel hybrids between Bactrian and dromedary camels are popular but produced by natural mating.