Sex Preselection in Animals: Current Methods and Applications

Abstract

Advancement in sexing technologies, when used with other animal reproductive technologies, presents opportunities to boost food production from animal sources and thus increase the availability of animal protein in the Filipino diet. The ability to predetermine the sex of offspring before and after fertilization of the ovum would allow farmers to raise animals of the desired sex based on their breeding needs and market demands. This paper reviews current sperm sexing technologies such as flow cytometry or cell sorting, H-Y antigen detection, and detection of sex-specific proteins on the sperm surface, as well as embryo sexing technologies such as chromosome analysis, polymerase chain reaction, and other methods. Moreover, it discusses how sexing technologies can further enhance other reproductive technologies, namely artificial insemination, embryo transfer, in vitro fertilization, embryo splitting, and cryopreservation, and the potential applications of these technologies in animal production.

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