Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Stallion Reproduction. Gramado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

The annual International Symposium on Stallion Reproduction is a forum that invites researchers from around the world to present their findings and contributions to stallion reproduction studies. The fifth edition was held in Gramado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and consisted of various academic papers, abstracts, and workshops focused on different aspects of stallion reproduction, such as anatomy, sperm function, and artificial insemination.

Introduction and Overview

• The International Symposium on Stallion Reproduction is a recurring scientific gathering first initiated in Stockholm in 1992. The symposium offers a platform for global researchers focused on equine reproductive science to share their findings and learn from others in the field.
• Notably, the fifth symposium was hosted in South America for the first time, specifically in Gramado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
• The organizing committee, made up of global experts in the field, handled the review and selection of papers and abstracts to be featured during the symposium.

Conference Proceedings and Sessions

• The conference hosted a wide range of scientific outputs, including 11 invited papers and 58 abstracts. Broadly, these publications fall under three main topics: the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of stallions; sperm function and evaluation; and semen preservation and artificial insemination.
• In order to allow for comprehensive scholarly engagement, extended abstracts from previous symposia were made shorter to give way to the subsequent publication of full-length papers. The papers submitted through the symposium would be published through Animal Reproduction Science.

Workshops

• Aside from the main sessions, practical workshops were also conducted to discuss specific areas of interest in greater detail. The symposium featured three of such workshops. The topics were: the use of frozen semen led by Ed Squires; the impact of Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) and Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) on international semen trade supervised by Reinhard Böse; and a clinical cases workshop directed by Dickson Varner.

Conclusion

• The 5th International Symposium on Stallion Reproduction marked another milestone in stallion reproduction research by enabling global knowledge exchange. It offered comprehensive exploration of various topics, contributing to the overall advancements in this particular field of study.