It’s important to know that the boars you use are healthy and virile. There are ways to enhance these qualities, as indicated by a study presented at the Allech International Animal Health and Nutrition Symposium last year.
This study compared sperm fertilizing capability in stored semen collected from boars fed diets supplemented with organic or inorganic sources of selenium. At weaning, crossbred boars were assigned to one of three dietary treatments: I. Basal diets with no supplemental selenium (controls); II. Basal diets supplemented with 0.3 ppm organic selenium (Sel-Plex, Alltech, Inc., Nicholasville, KY) and; III. Basal diets supplemented with 0.3 ppm sodium
selenite, inorganic selenium (n = 6 boars/treatment).
At sexual maturity, semen was collected, processed and stored at 18° C. It was evaluated at days 1 and 8 post-collection (day of semen collection = day 0) using commercially obtained porcine oocytes and in vitro fertilization procedures.
On day 1, fertilization rate was greater (P < 0.01) for the Sel-Plex-fed boars (77.8%) compared with the sodium selenite (67.4%) or control boars (68.5%). Polyspermy rate (16.5%) and male pronucleus (MPN) formation (94.1%) did not differ (P > 0.37) among groups.
On day 8, fertilization rates tended to be greater (P = 0.08) for boars fed the diet supplemented with Sel-Plex (63.5%) compared with control (53.3%) or sodium selenite-fed (49.5%) boars. Polyspermy rate (10.7%) and MPN formation (91.2%) did not differ (P = 0.37) among groups.
In conclusion, the researchers determined that supplementation of boar diets with Sel-Plex selenium resulted in enhanced sperm fertilizing capability compared with boars fed an equal dietary concentration of selenium from sodium selenite or boars receiving no selenium supplementation. Moreover, enhanced fertility characteristics appeared to be maintained during long-term liquid storage at 18° C.
Editor’s Note: This commentary is the summarization of a presentation at Alltech’s 2009 International Animal Health and Nutrition Symposium entitled, “Evaluation of sperm fertilizing capability in stored semen collected from boars fed a diet supplemented with organic selenium.” The research was performed by S. Speight*1, M. Estienne1, B. Whitaker (all with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; A. Harper1, R. Crawford1, and J. Knight (both with Ferrum College, Ferrum, VA); and is sponsored by Alltech, Inc. For more information on animal health and nutrition, go to: www.alltech.com
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