Artificial insemination in swine in an organized farm – A pilot study

Abstract

Aim: To assess the reproductive performance and managemental advantages of Artificial Insemination of swine. Materials and Methods:Large White Yorkshire sows were grouped into two batches (10 each) for AI and natural mating. AI 9 group was given two inseminations with semen extended with Beltsville Thawing Solution (BTS,3 x 10 spermatozoa per dose), at standing heat. Similarly, for natural mating group, triple mating was followed. The reproductive performance was studied after maintaining the sows under optimal managemental conditions. Results:The results indicated that AI and natural mating practices showed 100% conception rate. The litter size of AI group was 8.36±0.28 and that of the natural mating group was 10.6±0.64, that varied with high significance. The still birth rate was 0.7±0.26, which was significantly higher in natural mating group. The pre-weaning mortality was 4.34% and 7.5% for AI group and natural mating group respectively. The time consumed during mating per sow also varied highly significantly which was 11.46±0.47 minutes and 51.2±2.08 minutes for the AI group and natural mating group respectively. Conclusion:It was found that AI was found to be time and labor saving. The reduced litter size in AI group could be improved by ensuring that inseminations occur at an optimum time resulting in a high farrowing rate and litter size. AI can be successfully introduced in field conditions with some fine tuning.

Success drivers of pig artificial insemination based on imported fresh semen

“…Second parity sows have been reported to produce an average litter size of 8.36±0.28 when artificially inseminated, and 10.6±0.64 when naturally served by the boar (Ronald et al, 2013). While that study found the differences between the two methods were significant, this study found contrary results.…”

“…While stillbirths were found in both artificially and naturally inseminated sows, other studies (Ronald et al, 2013) reported still births only in naturally inseminated sows. The variance between the two studies could be attributed to the parity factor, since the study had mixed parities, with older sows having high stillbirths and the values must have been responsible for swaying the overall mean.…”

Factors influencing success of artificial insemination of pigs using extended fresh semen in rural smallholder pig farms of Rwanda

“…The use of AI in pig breeding presents great advantages, compared to natural mating, such as improving fertility, genetics, labour use efficiency and herd health which result in increased farm productivity and profitability (Knox, 2016). Artificial insemination enables to increase sire selection intensity by using the best sires available within individual breeds (Ronald et al, 2013). In fact, the use of AI greatly increases the selection differential, where the genetic potential of the best sires can be extensively transferred to a large number of pigs using diluted semen (Shimada et al, 2016).…”

“…Hence, AI can reduce the ratio to 1:150 (Roelofse, 2013). The reduced number of boars in a farm results in optimum use of the facilities and labour as well as reduction of feed supply and medicines; thus, monetary benefit (Ronald et al, 2013;Kadirvel et al, 2013).…”

“…The use of AI in pigs has presented an enormous progress, particularly in Europe and North America (Gerrits et al, 2005;Ronald et al, 2013). In some European countries, such as Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, more than 80% of the female pigs are bred using AI.…”