Effect of oxytocin added into sperm on artificial insemination in sheep

The use of additional oxytocin hormones in reproductive methods began in the 1970s in Europe. In recent studies, attempts have been made to achieve more successful pregnancies by adding oxytocin to semen rather than administering oxytocin exogenously to females. In light of this information, this study aimed to understand the effects of adding low-dose oxytocin hormone into ram semen on the pregnancy rate and reproductive efficiency of sheep. Semen was collected from five Chios rams. The ejaculates were pooled and Ovixcell^® was used as the diluent. The estrus was synchronized using an intravaginal sponge (Chrono-Gest^®) from 122 Chios ewes. After the sponge was left in the vagina for 12 d, a 500 IU PMSG injection was made. In every sheep, intramuscular (IM) injections were inseminated by the intracervical method using an insemination gun 50 h after injection. Pregnancy results were obtained by ultrasound examination without practice. Lambing performance was recorded at delivery; 53 out of 122 Chios ewes were inseminated with oxytocin hormone content, and successful pregnancy was achieved in 90.56 % of them. In the insemination of the remaining 69 sheep, oxytocin was not added, and the rate of successful pregnancy was 76.81 % ( $p=0.046$ ). The overall success rate based on the insemination results of all the sheep was determined to be 82.77 %. In an examination of the pregnancy rate, one of the indicators of reproductive performance, the difference between the groups is statistically significant ( $p\le 0.05$ ). Higher pregnancies were obtained in insemination with semen fluid containing oxytocin.