Does frozen semen result in a higher rate of early embryonic loss?
It is well known that embryonic death is a substantial cause of economic loss in the horse breeding industry. The incidence of embryonic loss during the first 14–50 days of gestation has been reported to vary between 5% and 24% when using natural mating or fresh semen. Limited information is available on the incidence of embryonic loss in mares inseminated with frozen-thawed semen. Barbacini et al. collected data from 464 Warmblood mares that were inseminated with cryopreserved semen within 6 hours pre- and 6 hours post-ovulation, and found an overall conceptus loss rate of 8.9% between 14 and 50 days of gestation. No significant difference in embryonic loss rate was observed when mares were inseminated pre- (8.1%) or post-ovulation (9.3%), showing that the incidence of embryonic death is not affected by inseminating mares anywhere in the periovulatory period. The authors also analyzed the data by subdividing the mares into reproductive and age groups. The barren mare group displayed g
