Problems of artificial insemination in dromedarius camel - failure of ovulation and entrapment of spermatozoa in gelatinous camel semen

An artificial insemination study was conducted on 17 female camels which were administered human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG) to induce ovulation after confirming a follicle in the ovaries using sonography. The animals were inseminated with either diluted-cooled or fresh undiluted semen. No female camel could be impregnated with diluted and cooled semen, while pregnancy rate was low with neat undiluted semen. To ascertain possible causes of low conception rate, plasma progesterone (P4) profiles were monitored. Criteria adopted for interpretation of these profiles were as follows: P4 levels below 1 ng/ml on days 5-8 was considered to indicate failure to ovulate; a single peak of 1ng/ml on days 5-8 followed by a decline on day 12 was considered to indicate ovulation. However, failure of fertilization and P4 levels of more than 1 ng/ml on days 5-8 and day 12 followed by a decline was considered to indicate successful ovulation and fertilization, but failure of embryo survival. Consistently higher levels of P4 were considered to be indicative of pregnancy. Using these criteria, 5 of 33 inseminations were diagnosed as pregnant, while profiles of 17 of 33, 8 of 33 and 3 of 33 were indicative of failure of ovulation, failure of fertilization and failure of embryo survival, respectively. A high incidence of failure of ovulation may be due to oversized follicles or follicles in which degenerative processes might have been initiated prior to administration of hCG. High failure of fertilization may be due to a viscous form of camel semen, which may play a role as a sperm reservoir and protect the viability of spermatozoa in the female genital tract by entrapping sperm. Insemination with diluted and cooled semen may disturb the protection, resulting in failure of conception. It is concluded that the high incidence of ovulation failure and failure to deposit sperm in its natural entrapped viscous form are the major problems for development of AI in the camel. Further improvement may be expected, if we are able to standardize the appropriate insemination time around peri ovulatory time, and appropriate follicular size, which responds to hCG.