Post-cervical insemination of sows with low sperm concentration dose in the commercial pig farm

The advantages of the insemination through the cervix into the uterus using a lower number of spermatozoa were investigated. Two hundred Danube White breed sows housed on a commercial pig farm were used in the study. The sows were randomly assigned to one of the following two equal treatment groups: group 1 - post-cervical insemination (PCI) with 1.5 x 10⁹ spermatozoa in 50 ml with a SOFT QUICK® catheter, and group 2 - cervical insemination (CI) with 3.0 x 10⁹ spermatozoa in 100 ml with a spiral type catheter. The animals were inseminated twice after the onset of standing reflex. Pregnancy was diagnosed at 28 to 30 d after the insemination by ultrasonography. Prior to data analysis, the sows were categorised into two weaning-to-oestrus intervals (WEI) of ≤6 d or >6 d. The highest farrowing rate - 100% was obtained after cervical insemination with 3.0 x 10⁹ spermatozoa in sows cycling within 6 d after weaning. In both methods, there was a tendency for low farrowing in sows in the >6 d WEI category in comparison with the animals at ≤6 d WEI. Similarly, the mean litter size with the standard device (CI) were 10.35 and 11.67 and with the PCI device 10.23 and 10.35. The average number of piglets born alive per litter was greater (P<0.5) for sows inseminated by the CI method of at >6 d category. The results show that SOFT QUICK® could be used in sows in a successful way as an intrauterine method in commercial farms. The main effect of the number of spermatozoa per dose and the weaning-to-oestrus interval did not significantly influence the overall birth weight of the litter and the average birth weight of the piglets.