Semen characteristics of boars receiving control diet and control diet supplemented with L-carnitine

Abstract

AbStrAct:The objective of this experiment was to test a hypothesis that L-carnitine supplemented diet would improve semen characteristics in 6 adult crossbred AI boars (Hampshire × Pietrain). The control and the tested diet were identical except the tested period (8 weeks) when the diet was supplemented with 2 g of l-carnitine per boar per day. The semen was collected regularly weekly by a gloved-hand technique. Semen volume, sperm motility and concentration, proportion of alive sperm cells and aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT) activity of semen were determined immediately after the semen collection once every two weeks. Sperm survival rate, morphologically abnormal spermatozoa, seminal plasma mineral components and free amino acid concentration, l-carnitine concentration in semen plasma and in sperm cells were determined after the sample storage (-20°C) at a later time. The differences ascertained between the average values of semen characteristics in the control vs. tested period did not prove a true and unambiguous positive effect on boar semen parameters by dietary supplementation of l-carnitine as our data show in our study: volume (239.11 vs. 250.50 ml; P 0.518), sperm concentration (301.67 vs. 350.83 × 10 3 /mm 3 ; P 0.309), sperm progressive motility (66.94 vs. 70.00%; P 0.409), morphologically abnormal spermatozoa (29.00 vs. 27.46%; P 0.802), daily sperm cells output (9.86 vs. 11.71 × 10 9 ; P 0.206), proportion of alive sperm cells (72.56 vs. 74.13%; P 0.484), survival spermatozoa ability maintenance (43.29 vs. 38.68%; P < 0.01), mineral components in the seminal plasma (Na-, K-, Ca-, Mg-, Zn-; P from 0.138 to 0.968), AspAT activity (in semen plasma -132.50 vs. 128.31 mU/10 9 spermatozoa; P 0.830, in sperm cells -147.37 vs. 119.01 mU/10 9 spermatozoa; P 0.146), semen plasma amino acid concentration -a significant positive effect of L-carnitine in lysine only (0.79 vs.1.17 µmol/100 ml; P < 0.01), l-carnitine concentration (in semen plasma 255.40 vs. 259.97 mg/l; P 0.884, in sperm cells -1 110.68 vs. 883.58 mg/l; P < 0.01). In conclusion, the studied indicators of semen quality were not significantly enhanced by dietary supplementation of l-carnitine in adult AI boars.

Effect of sire and extender on sperm motility and share of live or dead sperm in bulls’ fresh ejaculate and in AI doses after thawing

“…Every part of an ejaculate processing from its collection to production AI doses is very important and affects the final quality. Sperm quality is influenced by many factors, e.g., by breed, variation between individuals, and age of the sire , Štolc et al 2009, Bezdíček et al 2010, Strapák et al 2010, Hanuš et al 2011, by feeding ration composition, content of specialised feeding supplements (Čeřovský et al 2009(Čeřovský et al , Jacyno et al 2009), environmental conditions, frequency of ejaculate collection (Wolf & Smital 2009, Karoui et al 2011, and by season of the year (Hajirezaee et al 2010) or even calendar month, especially in animal species with seasonal sexual activity (Alavi et al 2010, Król et al 2011. Collection of ejaculate and its subsequent processing present further potential risk factors.…”

Testing an egg yolk supplemented diet on boars to aid in sperm adaptation at 5°C

“…Dietary changes produced an increase in the membrane cholesterol concentration of rabbit sperm [Mourvaki et al 2010;Saez Lancellotti et al 2010]. Additionally, supplements in the porcine diet are reported to have an effect on sperm after eight weeks of treatment [Č eřovský et al 2009;Radomil et al 2011], this timeframe ensuring coverage of at least one spermatogenic cycle [Zeng et al 2006].…”