Review on Status and Constraints of Artificial Insemination in Dairy Cattle in Developing Countries: The Case of Ethiopia

Abstract

Artificial insemination (AI) is the manual placement of semen in the reproductive tract of the female by a method other than natural mating which  is one of a group of technologies commonly known as “assisted reproduction technologies” (ART), whereby offspring are generated by facilitating the meeting of gametes (spermatozoa and oocytes). AI is by far the most common method of breeding of intensively kept dairy cattle. In relation to the status, there is a big gap in biotechnology use in general between developed and developing countries, with Artificial insemination (AI) being the biotechnology most widely applied in developing countries as compared to other biotechnologies. In developed countries, advances in Artificial insemination have already had a major impact on livestock improvement programmes. Similarly, most developing countries express the wish to increase the utilization of Artificial insemination even though in many cases clear plans for incorporating this technology into animal genetic resource management are lacking. AI speeds up genetic progress, reduces the risk of disease transmission and expands the number of animals that can be bred from a superior parent. In Ethiopia, even though this service has been in operation for over 30 years with different levels of intensification, its efficiency has remained at a very low level due to infrastructural, managerial and financial constraints and also due to poor heat detection, improper timing of insemination and embryonic death.

Keywords: Artificial insemination, Biotechnology, Constraints, Developing countries, Ethiopia