Evaluation of semen collected from Alentejano swine boars
2007
Charneca, R.; Vila-Viçosa M.J.; Nunes J.L.T., Universidade de Évora (Portugal). Departamento de Zootecnia
Alentejano swine (AL) populations raised under extensive systems increased during the last years. Selection and preservation of AL require further development of reproductive technologies. Artificial insemination will serve for genetic improvement and germplasm preservation. The project AGRO 204 "Trial to Test the Usefulness of Reproductive Auxiliary Techniques on Alentejano Swine under Extensive Production System" includes evaluation of reproductive parameters of boars from different farms. This paper presents results on training Alentejano boars for semen collection and their semen characteristics. During 2003 and 2004, 25 AL young boars (8-18 months) were taught to jump on a dummy, and semen was collected and analyses performed for: semen rich fraction volume (RFV), solid fraction weight (SFW), per cent alive spermatozoa (SPZV), motility (MOT), spermatic concentration (CONC), total number of spermatozoa in the ejaculate (SPZT), per cent abnormal spermatozoa (heads, tails and acrosomes) and ejaculation time. After a training period (1-15 attempts/animal), regular collection was possible from 17 boars, and 127 ejaculates were analysed. Ejaculation time, SFW and RFV were independent of the season. SPZV, MOT, CONC, SPZT and acrosome abnormalities were influenced by season. The exposition to high temperatures reduces semen quality, even in a well-adapted breed such as Alentejano
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