Everybody Loves Agriculture

“Everybody is affected by agriculture: the food we eat, the clothes we wear are agricultural products. About 60% of the Australian landmass is agricultural land. Agriculture and agricultural education must be promoted as much more than farming…” Ben Ovenden University Medal Recipient & Rice Farmer 2006

Philosophy “Nothing Great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion” Hegel

Sheep & Science Taree Campus of TAFE Peter Ruprecht & Kim Billingham aided and abetted by John Harper et al.

John Harper, Peter Chenoweth, Nim Weerakoon, Brian Alston Graham Curry & Students Science Careers Kim & Peter Charles Sturt University Wagga

Description of project –Initial concept –Contact with schools –Planning phase –Development of resources

It is crucial to check semen viability and motility after thawing from liquid nitrogen storage

Viewing sperm down the microscope

Freezing ram semen as pellets on a dry-ice block (solid carbon dioxide) for long-term storage in liquid nitrogen

Liquid nitrogen storage containers

Artificial insemination of ewes using Intrauterine Laparoscopic AI

Embryo Transfer

For details see Genstock Promo video Obtaining embryos from a ewe for embryo transfer

For details see Genstock Promo video Sheep embryos

John Harper, Peter Chenoweth, Nim Weerakoon, Brian Alston Graham Curry & Students Charles Sturt University Wagga

Eosin/nigrosin stain to detect living and dead Ram sperm In normal light microscopy Dead sperm stain purple (arrows), living sperm are greyish blue. White dots are droplets associated with sperm development that are discarded as they move through the male system. Dark purple spots are granules of the stain.

Here we are looking at the same field of sperm as in the previous slide and using a fluorescence microscope. The eosin-nigrosin stain that shows up purple in the sperm heads of dead sperm under white light (Bright field microscopy) is easier to see under UV light as the ‘dead heads’ fluoresce red or golden in the sperm head under ultraviolet light. In living sperm there is not much fluorescence in the sperm head. Note that half of the sperm tail, called the midpiece, fluoresces golden in living and dead sperm Note too the white arrows show the same dead sperm as seen the previous slide

Below are examples of living and dead sperm as seen using a fluorescence microscope. The red and golden fluorescence indicating dead sperm is easier to detect than the purple stain under bright field.

102 dead sperm

172 live sperm

So if you count 102 dead sperm and 172 live sperm the total sperm in the Field of view is = 274. The percentage living (viable) in this case are : 172/274 x100 =62.7 i.e. close to 63%