Abstract
The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the influence of boar breed and season on semen parameters. The research material consisted of 31 boars: Polish Large White (PLW), Polish Landrace (PL), and Duroc × Pietrain (D × P), aged 8 to 24 months. The analysed material consisted of 1390 ejaculates, collected during the period January 2010 to October 2012. Semen samples were assessed in terms of semen volume (mL), sperm concentration (× 10 6 m/mL), total number of sperm (× 10 9 ), total number of live sperm (× 10 9 ) and number of insemination doses obtained from one ejaculate (n). In winter, an increase in sperm concentration was observed for the PLW breed. Moreover, an increase in the volume of semen produced for this breed was noted in summer and autumn. Differences between breeds for the total number of sperm and total number of live sperm were observed for the winter and spring periods. The largest semen volume was noted for the PLW breed (276.4 ± 9.66 mL). However, in the analysis of other sperm parameters, boars of this breed demonstrated the poorest results. The highest insemination dose was obtained from breed D × P in winter (26.0 ± 0.51). Correlation analyses indicated that PLW and D × P boars are the least resistant to higher ambient temperatures, and in summer and autumn this resulted in a reduction in sperm concentration (–0.26 and –0.20, respectively). Keywords: Breed, boars, ejaculate, season, semen quality
Highlights
The continuous development and popularity of artificial insemination (AI) in pigs have driven the rate of high-performance insemination dose production intended for production distribution in Poland, but around the world
The main determinant of daily sperm production is the number of Sertoli cells, which is determined by testes mass (Okwun et al, 1996; Ford et al, 2006)
The traits analysed included semen volume, sperm concentration (× 106/mL), total number of sperm (× 109), total number of live sperm (× 109) and the number of insemination doses obtained from one ejaculate (n)
Summary
The continuous development and popularity of artificial insemination (AI) in pigs have driven the rate of high-performance insemination dose production intended for production distribution in Poland, but around the world. Eliminating all differentiating factors to produce the most homogeneous biological material is important, especially in insemination dose production. The quality and quantity of semen used for artificial insemination is determined by the main parameters; volume, sperm concentration, number of live sperm and number of insemination doses obtained from one ejaculate after dilution, all of which are sometimes difficult to interpret (Smital et al, 2004). The quantity and quality of ejaculates are affected by animal and environmental factors such as breed, age, feeding, health status and season (Cheon et al, 2002). The seasonality of breeding performance in sows and boars is often discussed in the literature (Peltoniemi et al, 2000; Strzeżek et al, 2000; Basset et al, 2001; Tast et al, 2001). Strong emphasis is being placed on the impact of sires on offspring, and this is especially so in insemination where the number of offspring of one sire is significant
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