Department of Animal Science
Date of this Version
11-2008
Abstract
The objective was to monitor sperm counts and bacterial presence on randomly pooled semen doses over 3 years and to determine effects on the farrowing rate and total born in two large farm systems, each serviced by its own boar stud. Sperm counts were divided into increments of 0.5 × 109 for data analysis. There was no effect of sperm count or the presence of bacteria on farrowing rate (n = 9502 observations). Furthermore, based on 7311 observations, there was no effect of the mere presence of bacteria on total born, but sperm count had a significant effect on total born; in particular, total born decreased with pooled semen doses < 2.5 × 109 sperm.
Comments
Published in Theriogenology 70:8 (November 2008), pp. 1377–1379; Proceedings of the VIth International Conference on Boar Semen Preservation; doi: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2008.07.019 Copyright © 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. Used by permission.