Frozen-thawed boar sperm (FTS) has reduced fertility compared to liquid semen. Exogenous prostaglandin administered atinsemination has been reported to improve cases oflow fertility. This experiment tested the effect of number of FTS and addition of prostaglandin (PGF2) onfertility. The experiment wasperformedinreplicatesusing weanedsows (n = 24) and synchronized gilts (n = 94). All females were induced into estrus using PG600® at weaning or following estrus synchronization. At estrus, females received 0.5, 1.0, or 2 billion
motile FTS (n = 9 boars) with 0 or 5 mg of PGF2 added into each AI dose at insemination.
Inseminations occurred at 24 and 36 h after onset of estrus and ovulation was monitored
by ultrasound. Pregnancy and litter size were determined for sows at farrowing and d 50 of
gestation for gilts at slaughter. There was no effect of PGF2 and no interaction with dose
of FTS or parity on fertility (P > 0.10). Pregnancy rate was affected by FTS dose (P < 0.001)
with2.0 × 109 (76.3%) greater than0.5 × 109 (46.2%) and 1.0 × 109 sperm(48.8 ± 8.0%). Pregnancy
rate wasnot affectedbyparity (P > 0.10) but was influencedby boar (P < 0.05).Number
of fetuses was also affected by FTS dose (P < 0.001) with 2.0 × 109 (10.1) and 1.0 × 109 (9.4)
producing more pigs than 0.5 × 109 sperm (6.9 ± 0.9). Litter size was also affected by parity
(P = 0.001) and boar (P < 0.01). These results indicate that AI using 2.0 × 109 FTS can result
in acceptable pregnancy rates and litter sizes but with no measurable benefit for addition
of prostaglandin.
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