The effect of breed, boar and season on some properties of sperm

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess the phenotypic variability of the ejaculate volume (VOL) and progressive sperm motility (MO) under the influence of breed, boar within breed and season. The study included 555 ejaculates of Danish Landrace (DL), Danish Large White (DLW) and Danish Duroc (DD) boars. The effect of boar was analyzed within the investigated breeds. The impact of the season was investigated as the influence of the month in which the ejaculate was taken. The model included a linear regression effect of boar age when the semen was taken. Data analysis was performed using the statistical package SAS 9.1.3 (SAS Inst. Inc.., 2002-2003). Impact assessment was carried out using the GLM procedure. The impact of all factors analyzed in both sperm traits was significant to highly significant, and the observed factors largely explain the phenotypic variability VOL compared to MO. The highest values were found in VOL of DL boar (3:58 ? 164.96 ml), and the MO of boar breed DLW (85.45 ? 0.94%). Boars DD had VOL and MO below the averages of all analyzed breeds. Between boars within studied genotypes differences were established (p <0.05, p <0.05, p <0.01 p <0.001) and a boar of DLW breed compared to all tested boars had the highest volume of ejaculate sperm with progressive motility of 90.47%. Volume, or mobility varied (p <0.01 or p <0.05) influenced by season, and in September and October boars had ejaculates with the VOL values above average and the lowest MO. Since most VOL and MO above the annual average in June, it was possible to get the highest number of doses per ejaculate with optimal reproductive/fertile ability.