Physical Method of measuring the Mobility of Bull Spermatozoa

Abstract

A TECHNIQUE has been developed for measuring the motility of bull spermatozoa, motility being defined as the rate of group movement of spermatozoa in semen at natural concentrations. This character has been found to give the best indication of the potential fertility of semen¹, and the evaluation of samples for artificial insemination is made almost entirely on some assessment of the motility. The established method is to assess the vigour of the sperm movement by observation of the random wave motion under the optical microscope and rating motility on a scale of 5 with subdivisions 5, 5−, 4+, 4, 4−, and so on, but it is realized that this method is too subjective to be entirely reliable and that a more quantitative method is desirable.