Influence of Sperm Cell Dose and Post‐insemination Backflow on Reproductive Performance of Intrauterine Inseminated Sows

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of the sperm cell dose and semen backflow on the pregnancy rate and number of embryos of sows inseminated once at 0-24 h before ovulation, using an intrauterine technique. The results were analysed from a total of 211 sows assigned to three groups inseminated with doses of 0.25 x 10(9) (T1), 0.5 x 10(9) (T2) and 1.0 x 10(9) (T3) spermatozoa. Semen backflow was observed in 95% of the females (143/151) evaluated for this purpose. The percentage of semen backflow is close to two-third of the volume and the percentage of sperm is around 15% of the infused sperm dose. Intrauterine insemination can be successfully performed provided that at least 0.5 billion of sperm cell dose is infused at an interval of 0-24 h before ovulation.

Sow fertility after insemination with varying doses of volume and spermatozoa count

“…First, the deposition of semen in the body of the uterus or uterine horns reduces the possibility of losing the sperm through polymorphonuclear leukocyte phagocytosis (15,16). Secondly, there is little or no loss of spermatozoa caused by semen backflow from the female reproductive system, which quite often happens immediately after intracervical insemination (8,17). However, the number of spermatozoa in a dose necessary to achieve the optimum farrowing rate and litter size is significantly linked with the interval from insemination to ovulation, as well as with the number of performed inseminations (7,9,14,18).…”

“…To overcome this problem, AI doses of reduced volume and spermatozoa numbers delivered by the intrauterine route have received considerable attention. However, an overriding consideration in using reduced AI doses and new delivery techniques is that when compared with the classic intracervical insemination, sow fertility rates should not be compromised (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). Due to the high cost of high genetic quality boars used in the Serbian commercial pig production, it is necessary to increase the number of insemination doses per boar per year, while maintaining the sow fertility rate.…”

Nova pipeta para inseminação intra-uterina em suínos

“…Com os estudos realizados, tem aumentado o conhecimento a respeito do número mínimo possível de espermatozóides empregados na dose (GIL et al, 2002;MEZALIRA et al, 2005;BENNEMANN et al, 2005), o protocolo ideal para realizar as inseminações (BENNEMANN et al, 2004) e os detalhes na tecnologia de produção das DIs. Além disso, foi demonstrada a importância de cuidados no treinamento e capacitação técnica do ser humano responsável por realizar todos esses procedimentos (BENNEMANN et al, 2005).…”

“…Dentre as vantagens descritas para a IAU, estão o menor refluxo ocorrendo durante ou após a inseminação (DALLANORA et al, 2004b), a redução do número de células espermáticas por dose e do volume da DI (WATSON & BEHAN, 2002;GIL et al, 2002;MEZALIRA et al, 2005;BENNEMANN et al, 2005), o menor tempo necessário para infusão da DI após a passagem do cateter (VAZQUEZ et al, 2000;MARTINEZ et al, 2002;WATSON & BEHAN, 2002) e a redução nos custos com aquisição e manutenção de machos, já que um macho poderá atender um maior número de fêmeas. Ainda, pode se especular que, com o uso da IAU, seria possível utilizar tecnologias como sexagem de espermatozóides e inseminação com sêmen congelado (LEVIS et al, 2002).…”

“…Em vários estudos envolvendo IAU (WATSON & BEHAN, 2002;DALLANORA et al, 2004a;BENNEMANN et al, 2004;MEZALIRA et al, 2005) não foram observadas diferenças no desempenho entre fêmeas inseminadas pela técnica de IAU e a IA tradicional, demonstrando que não há prejuízo nos índices produtivos com o emprego da inseminação intra-uterina.…”