Stress negative Piétrain boars and their hybrids - Growth performances and semen quality

A total of 15 boars from 3 genetic groups were used for this study, including 5 Piétrain boars (purebred Piétrain), 5 ♀Duroc × ♂Piétrain (½ Piétrain) and 5 ♀(Piétrain × Duroc) × ♂Duroc (¼ Piétrain) in order to evaluate the growth performance and sperm quality of stress negative Piétrain boars and their hybrids.
Testing period started at an average age of 60 days and ended at an average age of 225 days. The growth performances were weights at starting and finishing periods, average daily gain, backfat thickness, longissimus depth and lean content. The sperm quality was assessed using ejaculate volume, spermatozoon motility, sperm concentration, total number of spermatozoon in the ejaculate, rate of abnormal spermatozoon and pH of sperm. All these measurements were used to compare the genetic groups.
The results showed that: The average daily gain of stress negative Piétrain boar purebred was not significantly different from Piétrain hybrids while the lean content was higher. The ejaculate volume and the spermatozoon motility of stress negative Piétrain purebred boars were higher than Piétrain hybrids but the sperm concentration and the total number of spermatozoon in the ejaculate were lower.