Sex Preselection in Swine: Altered Sex Ratios in Offspring following Surgical Insemination of Flow Sorted X‐ and Y‐Bearing Sperm

Contents: Flow cytometric sorting of X and Y chromosome‐bearing sperm into separate populations, followed by surgical insemination into the isthmus of the oviduct of mature gilts, produced litters with phenotypic sex ratios skewed in the direction of male or female according to the predicted sex of the sperm population inseminated. The skewing of the sex ratio of the offspring was predicted from flow cytometric DNA reanalysis of flow sorted sperm populations. Gilts inseminated with intact, viable flow‐sorted X‐bearing sperm produced litters of off spring that were 74% female (P < .01). Gilts inseminated with intact, viable flow‐sorted Y‐bearing sperm gave off spring that were 68% male (P < .04). These results validate the use of DNA as a marker for pre‐selecting the sex of offspring when used in conjunction with flow cytometric sorting of sperm .