Abstract

ALEMAN, Daniela; MAYRA, Alfaro  and  HURTADO, Ernesto. Effect of semen temperature on the reproductive performance of sows. Zootecnia Trop. [online]. 2007, vol.25, n.2, pp.71-75. ISSN 0798-7269.

With the purpose of evaluating the effect of semen temperatures on the reproductive performance of nuliparous, primiparous, and multiparous females, it was used 91 Yorkshire x Landrace half-breed sows, in a commercial farm located in Sabaneta, Monagas state, Venezuela. The treatments were distributed in a factorial arrangement (3x2) on a complete random design. The factors were categories of parturition (nuliparous, primiparous, and multiparous) and semen temperatures (37, and 16-18ºC). The dependent variables were farrowing rate (FR), number of piglets born alive (NPBA), and number of total born piglets (NTBP). The data were analyzed through variance analysis by the method of the minimum squares, with a lineal model of fixed effects, for unequal number of observations was applied. It was observed an effect (P<0.05) of the interaction categories of parturition x semen temperature on the farrowing rate.  The mean values found for all sows were: 79.1% for 37ºC and 55.4% for 16-18ºC. While larger average (85.6%) in interactions occurred in nuliparous sows inseminations with semen at 37ºC. The NPBA and NTBP did not present difference (P>0.05) in factors of study. In conclusion, interaction categories of parturition x semen temperature affect reproductive answer (farrowing rate).

Keywords : sows; semen temperature; reproductive performance.