Abstract
Lipoproteins, isolated from ostrich egg yolk (LPFo), provide excellent
protection for boar spermatozoa against cryo-induced damage. The present
study was performed to investigate the effects of LPFo on the freezability
and fertilizing capacity of frozen-thawed (FT) boar semen after
post-cervical artificial inseminations (post-CAIs). Semen, collected from
7 Polish Large White (PLW) and 4 Polish Landrace (PLR), was frozen in an
extender containing LPFo. Post-CAIs were performed in 38 multiparous sows,
using a catheter-cannula kit. Sows were inseminated 2× within one oestrus,
and fertility parameters were recorded after farrowing. Neither boar
(within breed) nor breed affected the quality of the pre-freeze (PF)
semen, such as total motility (TMOT), mitochondria membrane potential
(MMP), plasma membrane integrity (PMI), osmotic resistance test (ORT) and
DNA fragmentation. Differences in the freezability of boar semen were
observed among the boars, whereas there were no marked breed effects.
Post-thaw TMOT markedly declined over storage time in most of the boars,
particularly at 60 min after thawing. Inseminations of post-weaned oestrus
sows resulted in pregnancy and farrowing rates of 84.2% and 81.6%,
respectively. Neither the mean number of piglets born (NB) nor the mean
number of piglets born alive (NBA) was affected by boar or breed. The
total number of piglets born was 365, resulting in 11.8 NB piglets,
whereas the total number of piglets born alive was 353, with 11.4 NBA
piglets per litter. The findings of this study reaffirm the variations in
the freezability of boar semen. In this study the supplementation of
ostrich egg yolk lipoproteins to the freezing extender of boar semen
produced high proportions of functionally viable FT spermatozoa that were
capable of providing acceptable fertility results after post-CAIs in
multiparous sows.
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