Molecular analysis of genes associated with semen quality and fertility of cattle

Bangladesh is a densely populated agricultural country with an acute shortage of animal protein. Per capita availability of this product is about 40%. For example, the National Health Strategy recommends a daily milk ration of 250 millimeters (ml)/person but the actual average daily consumption is 165 ml/person, almost half of the recommended intake. Artificial insemination (AI) with semen from high yielding animals is using to increase milk production and has become popular. But the success rate of AI in Bangladesh is reported very low due to poor seminal attributes. The current routine semen analysis reveals very little about semen molecular characters. Several genes are reported to be associated with the semen quality and fertility. It is thus important to know the status of the genes in bulls used for semen production inBangladesh for the improvement of cattle.