Effect of whole blood and serum on bovine sperm quality and in vitro fertilization capacity.

Under physiologic conditions, low concentrations of blood may be present in the uterine fluid of the estrous cow at the moment of insemination. To decrease the insemination dose and to obtain good insemination results with less fertile semen, more invasive insemination methods such as utero tubal junction (UTJ) insemination can be used. More invasive insemination methods increase the risk of damaging the hyperemic endometrium, with blood in the uterine fluid as result. In this study, the effect of 0, 0.15 and 1.5% whole blood and serum on bovine sperm quality and in vitro fertilizing capacity was evaluated. Sperm quality as assessed by total motility, progressive motility, membrane integrity and acrosomal status was not affected by the presence of blood or serum (P > 0.05). However, the in vitro fertilizing capacity decreased with increasing concentrations of blood and serum (P < 0.01). The rate of polyspermy increased with increasing concentrations of serum (P < 0.01), but not with increasing concentrations of blood (P = 0.30). In conclusion, no immediate effect of blood and serum was visible on several sperm quality parameters, except for an increased prevalence of head to head agglutination (HHA). However, blood and serum did have a negative effect on in vitro fertilizing capacity.