Deep Freezing of Mangalica Boar Semen
Abstract
Artificial insemination (AI) is used globally throughout the swine industry, at present the
most used method is with liquid semen, which has very successful results. In recent years,
the cryopreservation of swine semen has been researched due to its success in species like
cattle. Cryopreservation has many benefits including gene preservation and for use in
emergency situations. However due to the poor survival of boar sperm post freezing and
thawing it is not used widely throughout the industry. Its use in the in vitro gene preservation
of the endangered Mangalica pig breed shows promise and should be considered as a viable
option for saving the breed in the future- once further investigations have been completed to
further improve the viability of sperm post cryopreservation.