New Insights – Dyneval https://www.dyneval.com Precise measurement of microscopic motion Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:07:57 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.dyneval.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Dynevalicon-32x32.jpg New Insights – Dyneval https://www.dyneval.com 32 32 MCC: Unlock Precision in Sexed Semen Analysis https://www.dyneval.com/mcc-unlock-precision-in-sexed-semen-analysis/ Fri, 28 Nov 2025 09:45:39 +0000 https://www.dyneval.com/?p=1010408

MCC: Unlock Precision in Sexed Semen Analysis

Measure total and progressive motile cell counts accurately

Achieving target pregnancy rates isn’t always straightforward, even when semen QC is carefully managed. Environmental conditions and handling factors can occasionally introduce variability. When this happens, troubleshooting can be slow, costly, and advisers may hesitate to make confident recommendations without clear data.

This is where Motile Cell Count (MCC) makes a difference. Knowing the exact number of motile cells in a sexed straw helps producers verify that each dose meets its intended performance, ensuring clarity, consistency, and confidence across the supply chain.

Why MCC matters?

Sex-sorted semen straws are rapidly growing in popularity worldwide, thanks to their ability to pre-determine offspring sex with approximately 90% accuracy. This gives farmers the power to control herd composition, enhance profitability, improve efficiency, and accelerate genetic progress.

In semen analysis, accuracy is critical—especially for sex-sorted samples, which typically have lower cell concentrations and higher debris levels compared to conventional or fresh semen. This creates a clear need for a fast, reliable, low-effort, and high-accuracy quality control method.

The best part: For Dynescan users, no extra steps are needed. MCC analysis is automatically applied to every sex-sorted sample during the standard measurement process, providing consistent and reliable results—regardless of operator experience.

Benefits for semen producers

✔ Ensure every straw meets its intended dose

✔ Maintain product consistency across batches

✔ Optimise sorting efficiency and monitor process performance

✔ Support accurate fertility predictions for customers

Benefits for Vets & Advisors

✔ Instant, objective data to support breeding decisions

✔ Portable for real-time farm use

✔ User-independent technology to standardise results

✔ Helps clients increase fertility efficiency & sustainability outcomes

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Game-changing Motile Cell Count algorithm for all sexed- sorted semen

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]]> Identifying Subfertile Bulls for Better Breeding https://www.dyneval.com/identifying-subfertile-bulls-for-better-breeding/ Tue, 04 Mar 2025 09:07:18 +0000 https://www.dyneval.com/?p=1009263

Identifying Subfertile Bulls for Better Breeding

Reproductive success is at the heart of sustainable livestock production. However, subfertile bulls pose a hidden challenge, leading to reduced conception rates and economic losses. Traditional semen quality assessments often fail to detect subtle deficiencies in motility that impact fertility. Dyneval’s research, as outlined in the recent case study, demonstrates how time-dependent semen analysis can revolutionise the identification of subfertile bulls, ensuring optimal breeding decisions.

The Challenge: Detecting Hidden Subfertility

Artificial insemination (AI) relies on semen quality to achieve high conception rates. While traditional assessment methods such as gross motility and progressive motility offer a snapshot of sperm movement, they do not capture the crucial time-dependent changes that determine sperm longevity and fertilization potential. This limitation leaves farmers, veterinarians, and genetics companies with incomplete data, potentially allowing subfertile bulls to remain in breeding programs. ‘I’m interested in learning more about how semen lifetime analysis can help us identify potential health or genetic issues in bulls’, commented Rodrigo de Moraes Rodrigues (New Business Manager, Alta Genetics Brazil).

The Dyneval Approach: Precision Motility Analysis

Dynescan semen analyser provides an advanced solution by analysing semen progressive motility over time. The study revealed that semen samples from bulls with lower fertility showed a significant decline in motility within just 15 minutes despite having passed full Veterinary Assessment and morphological examination. In contrast, semen from highly fertile bulls retained motility for extended periods, demonstrating higher viability for fertilisation.

By leveraging time-dependent progressive motility analysis, the Dynescan semen analyser enables precise differentiation between bulls with high and low fertility potential. This empowers AI technicians, veterinarians, and genetics companies to make data-driven decisions when selecting sires, leading to improved reproductive outcomes.

The Impact: Enhanced Fertility and Productivity

Higher Conception Rates – By identifying bulls with superior semen longevity, producers can optimise insemination strategies and improve pregnancy rates.

Reduced Economic Losses – Early detection of subfertile bulls prevents wasted resources on ineffective breeding efforts.

Sustainable Livestock Management – Maximising fertility supports efficient breeding programs, reducing methane emissions to lower the carbon footprint associated with reproductive inefficiencies.

Looking Ahead: A New Standard in Semen Assessment

The ability to measure semen motility over time marks a paradigm shift in fertility management. Dyneval’s research reinforces the need for advanced analysis techniques to ensure every straw of semen used in AI contributes to reproductive success. As this technology gains adoption, it will redefine industry standards for semen quality evaluation, delivering benefits across the entire livestock sector.

Read Full Case Study

Identifying Subfertile Bulls with Time Dependent Fresh Semen Analysis 

Traducción al Español

Identificación de toros subfertiles mediante análisis de semen fresco sostenido en el tiempo 

Boost Fertility with Time-Dependent Analysis

Contact Dyneval today to discover how you can improve fertility management and maximise breeding success.
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]]> Fresh Semen Testing https://www.dyneval.com/fresh-semen-testing/ Tue, 08 Oct 2024 16:01:51 +0000 https://www.dyneval.com/?p=1007883

Fresh Semen Testing

Improve decisions with precise semen analysis on fresh semen pen-side

Bull fertility can be compromised for a myriad of reasons, poor nutrition [1], obesity [2], heat stress [3], and bacterial infection [4]. The majority of farm vets still rely on visual assessment using an optical microscope at the farm. When 65 farm vets were asked to assess the % progressive motility of a single video, results between experts varied by over 40% [5]. The challenge of accurate assessment is further exacerbated by air flow around open microscopes at the farm and issues around sample preparation protocols.

Pen-side fresh semen testing

The Dynescan is a portable, enclosed instrument with a unique underpinning technology that performs measurements of equal precision at the farm and in the laboratory using sealed channel slides for consistent sample preparation. Measurements of the % progressive motility and speed of spermatozoa can be performed over a wide range of concentrations from 1 – 550 million cells/ml, unlike other semen analysers. Results are reproducible with less than 3% standard deviation between users and measurements can be repeated at regular intervals over time to explore whether motility will be sustained in low oxygen conditions similar to the reproductive tract. When measuring fresh semen on farm we recommend a dilution of 1 part fresh ejaculate to 9 parts buffer (e.g. phosphate buffer saline) to obtain accurate measurement of % progressive motility. While it is possible to measure the % progressive motility within 2 minutes, we recommend taking regular measurements for up to 15 minutes with fresh diluted semen as shown in Figure 1.

Assessing Spermatozoa Swimming Speed and Progressive Motility in Low Oxygen
Fig 1. Dynescan measurements of the a) swimming speed and b) % progressive motility of spermatozoa over time allow us to explore the ability of spermatozoa to remain motile in low oxygen conditions, similar to the reproductive tract. Bull 3 is unable to retain motility in low oxygen conditions.

Bull 1 is an example of an excellent bull. The speed begins at 350 µm/s and then reduces after 10 minutes to around 150 µm/s. A drop in speed signifies the transition in the metabolic pathway from consuming oxygen to other energy sources within the media. Despite the drop in speed, the % progressive motility remains constant between 65-68% throughout.

Bull 2 is an example of bull that would not pass a bull fertility exam on the basis of poor % progressive motility. The speed is slow at around 40 µm/s. The % progressive motility is low at around 19-22% throughout. Bull 3 is an example of a bull that would have passed a bull fertility exam on the basis of its initial % progressive motility being over 60%, measured at 74% initially, and a vigourous swimming speed of 308 µm/s. As expected, the speed halves within 5 minutes indicating the transition in metabolic pathway to low-oxygen conditions. Unexpectedly, the % progressive motility drops dramatically falling to less than 15% within 10 minutes. This bull should not pass a bull fertility exam because its spermatozoa are unable to maintain motility in low-oxygen conditions similar to the reproductive tract. It is vital that spermatozoa are motile in low-oxygen conditions in order to fertilise the oocyte. A loss of motility at early times is associated with poor embryo growth and poor fertility outcomes [6].

A fast method to identify poorly performing bulls

Dynescan also has the capability to analyse undiluted fresh semen. While its capacity to measure accurately % progressive motility at concentrations above 550 million cells/ml may be affected by the presence of correlated motion, known as gross motility, Dynescan can measure swimming speed which provides insights into how well semen sustains motility in low oxygen conditions. Performing measurements on undiluted semen we measured 69% progressive motility for bull 1, 24% for bull 2 and 11% for bull 3 indicating that Dynescan measurements on fresh undiluted samples, taking just 2 minutes, are a good guide to understand motility in the reproductive tract. This is because the oxygen is consumed very quickly, before the measurement, at high cell concentrations. Strictly, it is not possible to measure accurately the % progressive motility of fresh semen at high concentrations because non-motile cells are swept along by motile cells but results suggest
that Dynescan measurements on undiluted fresh semen offer insights into activity in low-oxygen conditions.

Bull recovery plans

Bull 3 was observed to be lame suggesting that injury or infection has affected the anaerobic (low oxygen) pathway for spermatozoa. We anticipate that Dynescan measurements will become useful for detecting underlying conditions that are otherwise unobserved. Through developing a richer understanding of the connection between disease and semen quality, we will be able to identify treatment pathways and use the Dynescan to observe recovery of the bull. This will ensure that we are able to keep bulls with top genetic merit within the herd and reduce biosecurity risks associated with bring new bulls onto the farm. We encourage and support research projects to help improve our understanding of factors affecting bull fertility.

Picture of Hannah Nicholson

Hannah Nicholson

Junior Researcher, University of Edinburgh

The experiments were conducted by Hannah Nicholson, a Junior Researcher on placement at Dyneval.

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Semen longevity under heat stress conditions

References

  1. A. K. Singh, S. K. Rajak, K. Priyaranjan, S. Kerketta and R. K. Yogi, “Nutrition and bull fertility: A review,” Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 635-643, 2018.
  2. P. I. P. Fontes, L. M. Goncalves, S. M. Zoca and S. Burato, “Impact of Sire Over-conditioning on Bull Fertility,” ARSBC Proceedings, 2023.
  3. M. B. Rahman, K. Schellander, N. L. Luceno and A. Van Soom, “Heat stress responses in spermatozoa: Mechanisms and consequences for cattle fertility,” Theriogenology, vol. 113, pp. 102-112, 2018.
  4. E. Moretti, S. Capitani, N. Figura, A. Pammolli, M. Grazia Federico, V. Giannerini and G. Collodel, “The presence of bacteria species in semen and sperm quality,” Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, vol. 26, pp. 47-56, 2009.
  5. Dyneval survey of 65 attendees of the British Cattle Veterinary Association congress in 2023, https://www.dyneval.com/dynescan-proves-to-take-bull-fertility-exams-to-a-new-level/
  6. J. G. Alvarez, J. F. Mortola, D. Minaretzis, I. E. Thompson and C. Brent Barrett, “The sperm stress test: a novel test that predicts pregnancy in assisted reproductive technologies,” Fertility and Sterility, vol. 2, p. 65, 1996.

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