Instructive days at the Live Poultry Genebank in Norway
Cryopreservation is an important component in the conservation of farm animal genetic resources and it is especially relevant in efforts to ensure that future breeding goals in a changing environment can be met. Safeguarding of animal genetic resources against diseases and disasters is more easily achieved with cryopreserved material, than with live herds or flocks of animals, which are often kept in restricted geographic areas.
From June 23-25 2014 nine participants from four nordic countries met at Hvam videregående skole, Norway, where the Norwegian Live Poultry Genebank is situated. During the three day workshop on cryopreservation of poultry semen, organized by NordGen Farm Animals, participants carried out all procedures from collecting chicken semen to freezing, thawing and artifically inseminating hens. The course was taught by Prof. Konstantin Tselutin from the All-Russian Research Institute of Genetics and Breeding of Farm Animals, Russian Academy of Agricultural Science, who has developed protocols specifically for cryopreservation of poultry semen and was very happy to pass this knowledge on to the participants of the workshop.
One of the Danish participants, Niels Rasmussen, summed up:"We all agreed that these were a couple of very instructive days and we also had plenty of time to talk to and discuss things with our colleagues from the other [Nordic] countries, which was very valuable to us."
We hope that the participants are now equipped to implement this knowledge in their home countries!
