Enhanced Testicular Development and Fertilizing Capacity of Boars Following Sexual Stimulation at Different Ages

Abstract

Umesiobi, D.O. 2010. Enhanced testicular development and fertilizing capacity of boars following sexual stimulation at different ages. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 37: 105–108.

Thirty six Large White boars were used to determine whether testicular development and fertilizing capacity of boars could be evaluated by sexual stimulation tests. Twelve boars were assigned to each of the three treatment groups involving 0, 5 and 10 min of sexual restraint (R) per 30 min test period and two different (300- and 450-d) age groups. Boars from each treatment group were hemi-orchidectomised immediately after sexual stimulation at 300 and 450 d of age, respectively, to evaluate testicular components (testis weight, total daily sperm production per testis, tubular diameter, tubular length, total tubular mass and total Leydig mass). Sexual stimulation of boars at 10R during 450 d of age resulted in the highest (P<0.01) values for all parameters. The 10 min of sexual stimulation, mostly in 450-d-old boar gave the highest number of mounts, ejaculation rates, ejaculate volume, total sperm count, sperm motility and normal acrosome morphology, with the shortest RT. Results suggest that sexual stimulation of boars induces testicular development, leading to significant improvement in the fertilizing capacity of boars and may provide accurate tests for assessing the testicular development, sperm quality, as well as libido and mating potentials of boars at different ages.

Keywords:

• Sexual restraint
• testicular hypertrophy
• daily sperm production
• Large White boars