Improvement of Semen Quality by Feed Supplement and Semen Cryopreservation in Swine

Abstract

Artificial insemination in pig offers many advantages in swine production in terms of a better disease control through semen quality control, a diverse male genetic distribution and an easiness of management. It is accepted that in developing countries, AI helps to improve the genetic profile. A number of sows can be inseminated using the same ejac‐ ulate instead of only one from natural mating. The number of pig farms using AI has increased because of the technical improvement of semen extenders and equipments, and the technique can be performed on farm. In Thailand, AI in commercial pig farms is routinely used as a standard protocol in pig production. The results obtained by AI are quite similar or higher than that from natural. Because of the quality of insemina‐ tion can be guaranteed by semen testing and evaluation before insemination. The im‐ provement of semen quality can be acquired by feed supplement and semen freezing in boar can be used to genetic conservation. The feed supplement improving the semen quality have been imperatively used in the boars which have low libido and low se‐ men quality, because these boars have been imported and are of superior genetic merit and so are perceived to have great value to their owners who, therefore, are very reluc‐ tant to cull them. Moreover, in tropical countries, cryopreservation of boar semen is nowadays performed in a limited scale and it has yet to be conducted in Thailand par‐ ticularly for the commercial purpose. Concerning this point and obtained benefit in the future, the improvement of boar semen quality by feed supplement and boar semen cryopreservation are reviewed in this chapter.