Computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA): capabilities and potential developments.

Artificial insemination in pigs today

Oo—if this is your first Sunday to worship with us, I have bad news: you picked the Sunday of the year we talk about money. Yes, that puts us ‘way behind Jesus, who talked about money more than just about any other subject. And yet it makes a lot of Christians nervous to talk about money. Some people think the church is ALWAYS asking for money. It’s like the husband who attended Easter worship with his wife, and at lunch she asked him how he liked the service. “Well,” he grumbled, “I’m not hot about it. One of the things I can’t stand is, every time I go, they sing the same song: “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”!

How much is enough

Sperm quality is often evaluated through computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) and is an indicator of boar fertility. The aim of this research was to study the relationship between CASA motility parameters and fertility results in pigs. Insemination records and semen parameters from a total of 45,532 ejaculates collected over a 3-yr period were used. The statistical model for analysis of fertility data from these inseminations included factors related to sow productivity. The boar- and semen-related variance (direct boar effect) were corrected for the effects of individual boar, genetic line of the boar, age of the boar, days between ejaculations, number of sperm cells in an ejaculate, number of sperm cells in an insemination dose, and AI station. The remaining variance was analyzed if semen motility parameters had a significant effect. This analysis revealed significant (P 0.05) were observed between effects of AI stations on fertility outcome, underscoring the objectivity of the CASA system used. Motility parameters can be measured with CASA to assess sperm motility in an objective manner. On the basis of the motility pattern, CASA enables one to discriminate between the fertilizing capacity of ejaculates, although this depends on the genetic line of the boar used in AI stations.

Application of computer-assisted semen analysis to explain variations in pig fertility.

We review critical factors associated with reproductive performance of female breeding pigs, their lifetime performance and herd productivity in commercial herds. The factors include both sow-level and herd-level factors. High risk sow-level groups for decreasing reproductive performance of female pigs are low or high parity, increased outdoor temperature, decreased lactation feed intake, single inseminations, increased lactation length, prolonged weaning-to-first-mating interval, low birth weight or low preweaning growth rate, a few pigs born alive at parity 1, an increased number of stillborn piglets, foster-in or nurse sow practices and low or high age at first-mating. Also, returned female pigs are at risk having a recurrence of returning to estrus, and female pigs around farrowing are more at risk of dying. Herd-level risk groups include female pigs being fed in low efficiency breeding herds, late insemination timing, high within-herd variability in pig flow, limited numbers of farrowing spaces and fluctuating age structure. To maximize the reproductive potential of female pigs, producers are recommended to closely monitor females in these high-risk groups and improve herd management. Additionally, herd management and performance measurements in high-performing herds should be targeted.

/pdf/factors-for-improving-reproductive-performance-of-sows-and-1p3p528t99.pdf

Factors for improving reproductive performance of sows and herd productivity in commercial breeding herds

Use of combinations of in vitro quality assessments to predict fertility of bovine semen

The value of microscopic semen motility assessment at collection for a commercial artificial insemination center, a retrospective study on factors explaining variation in pig fertility

Additional value of computer assisted semen analysis (CASA) compared to conventional motility assessments in pig artificial insemination.

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In Western countries, where pig breeding and production are intensive, there is a documented variability in fertility between farms with boar-related parameters only accounting to 6% of this total variation of in vivo fertility. Such low boar effect could be a result of the rigorous control of sires and ejaculates yielding AI-doses exerted by the highly specialized AI-centres that monopolize the market. However, some subfertile boars pass through these rigorous controls and consequently reach the AI-programmes. Here, we discuss why testing young boars for chromosomal defects, sperm nuclear chromatin integrity and in vitro fertilizing ability can be discriminative and economically sound for removing these less fertile boars. Alongside, we discuss why boars differ in the ability of their sperm to tolerate cryopreservation or sex sorting.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/rda.12530

M.L.W.J. Broekhuijse

Papers

Application of computer-assisted semen analysis to explain variations in pig fertility.

Use of combinations of in vitro quality assessments to predict fertility of bovine semen

The value of microscopic semen motility assessment at collection for a commercial artificial insemination center, a retrospective study on factors explaining variation in pig fertility

Additional value of computer assisted semen analysis (CASA) compared to conventional motility assessments in pig artificial insemination.

Boar Differences In Artificial Insemination Outcomes: Can They Be Minimized?