Comparison of five different methods to assess the concentration of boar semen

Abstract

Both for research and practical purposes, accurate and repeatable methods are required to assess the concentration of boar semen samples. Since the method which is used may influence the results considerably, the aim of the present study was to compare 5 frequently used techniques to determine boar semen concentration. Fifty ejaculates were collected from 37 different boars at an artificial insemination centre. Subsequently, each ejaculate was analyzed for sperm concentration by means of 2 different types of colorimeters (Colorimeter 1: Model 252, Sherwood Scientific Ltd, Cambridge, UK ; Colorimeter 2: CibaCorning, Schippers, Bladel, The Netherlands), the Bürker counting chamber (golden standard), and the Hamilton Thorne Analyzer (Ceros 12.1) using 2 types of Leja chambers (the 'former' and the 'recently developed'). Each ejaculate was assessed 5 times with each of the 5 methods, and the repeatability, expressed by coefficient of variation (CV), was determined for each method. The different methods were compared using Pearson's correlations and limits of agreement. The colorimeters yielded the lowest CV's (both 3.7%), while the former Leja chamber resulted in the highest CV (12.4%). Moreover, significant (P<0.01) and high correlations (r>0.71) were found between the results obtained by the different methods. The limits of agreement plots showed that none of the methods consistently over- or underestimated the sperm concentrations when compared to the Bürker chamber, although there was a tendency toward higher overor underestimation in highly concentrated sperm samples. Based on our results, there were no major differences in the assessment of sperm concentration between the evaluated methods. The choice of method used in a laboratory could therefore be based on factors such as cost, number of samples to be assessed and practical use, without thereby negatively affecting the validity of the results thus obtained.