Research Article

Semen quality assessment of Duroc x Pietrain crosses in a six degree spermiogram classification scale

Stanisław Kondracki, JoannaWysokińska,Anna Wysokińska

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 10(4), 2011, 65‒72

Abstract. The experimental material was constituted by 200 ejaculates manually collected from 20 boars maintained at three insemination stations of the Masovian Centre forAnimal Breeding and Reproduction in Łowicz. The assessment concerned ejaculates collected from each boar at the frequency of one month. Each boar provided 10 ejaculates and each ejaculate was assessed for sperm morphology. 500 spermatozoa in each sample were analysed for their morphology. Well-formed and morphologically altered spermatozoa were counted and the modified sperms were differentiated into those with primary and secondary changes, following Blom’s classification. In order to compare sperm morphology of particular males, a spermiogram quality classification was devised using a six-degree scale that assessed the ejaculates under analysis from 0 (for ejaculates with the worst sperm morphology) up to 5 (for those with the best sperm morphology). The assessment based on classifying a number of boar spermiograms was found to make it possible to determine what proportion of the ejaculates was highly useful for insemination and how many of them were not fit for the purpose.

Keywords: boar, semen, spermiogram